


Finding a Friend in the Big City

by roseantique1234



Category: Monsta X (Band), NU'EST
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - Parents, Domestic Fluff, Domestic af, Fluff without Plot, Kid Fic, Kindergarten, Kindergarten Teacher Minhyuk, M/M, Monsta X and NU'EST interactions need to happen, Regular Life AU, baby I.M., baby Minki, baby Ren, baby changkyun, basically each chapter is a little interaction between the families, daycare AU, domestic without plot, i know Monsta X and NU'EST aren't known to be friends, i wanna think Minhyuk and JR are close(r) cause they literally went to the jungle together, i'm just a delulu fangirl, kindergarten teacher JR, might write more chapters, parents Baekmin, parents showki, this could literally go on forever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:01:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25840246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseantique1234/pseuds/roseantique1234
Summary: Kihyun and Hyunwoo moved to Seoul from the countryside a month ago with their two-year-old son Changkyun. The city is great and all but they struggle to find friends and other young families in the area. What happens when their friendly kindergarten/daycare teachers JR and Minhyuk suggest they meet another young family they know?
Relationships: Hwang Minhyun/Kang Dongho | Baekho, Son Hyunwoo | Shownu/Yoo Kihyun
Comments: 8
Kudos: 58





	1. The Awkward First Meeting

“Why did we agree to this, it’s literally been 30 minutes,” Kihyun complained as he shifted in uncomfortably in a chair clearly too small for him.

“You were the one who said it would be nice to befriend another young couple in the city,” Hyunwoo chuckled back as he gave up trying to find a comfortable position on his chair, opting to sit on the padded floors instead. 

Kihyun sighed as he looked over at his two-year-old son, Changkyun who was giggling away playing with his new best friend Minki in the corner of the classroom. 

Kihyun and Hyunwoo moved to Seoul from the countryside about a month ago hoping to get more job opportunities as well as to raise Kyunnie (as they affectionately called their son) in a more modern environment. Both of them had actually gone to college in Seoul, which is where they met, but for the first few years after college, and their marriage they decided to try settling down in the country. Country life proved to be too slow for Kihyun who was a freelance consultant, and craved the blinding city skyline he grew to love during their college years. So, after much discussion, a little bit of begging, and long nights crunching numbers, the Son-Yoo family finally decided to make the big move.

The city was intimidating. Though both men had lived there for a good four years for college, now they were stepping into this place with whole new identities. They were adults, husbands, and most importantly parents. Unlike the countryside, city people were cold, and they struggled to make friends or even make a conversation with their neighbors. Kihyun was especially affected by this. It felt isolating, and lonely to not have a community he could rely on, friends he could turn to for help and advice. Sure, Hyunwoo was an amazing husband, but a man needs friends, a dad needs friends. 

This is how they ended up in this situation: at a kid sized table in Changkyun’s kindergarten classroom. One day when Hyunwoo was waiting for Changkyun to finish his rounds of goodbyes and kisses to his friends, he started making small talk with some of the teachers. They were Minhyuk and Jonghyun. They both looked incredibly young, early twenties maybe, but they were impeccable teachers. The kids loved them, even Changkyun who could tend to be a little grumpier and a little more shy compared to kids his age. Hyunwoo kind of let it slip that he and Kihyun didn’t know any other young parents in the area, and it was creating a lot of stress for his little husband. 

After hearing this Minhyuk’s eye lit up with an idea “Jonghyun-ah, didn’t you say a young couple enrolled one of their kids here a couple of months ago… who was it again?”

“You mean Minki’s parents?”

“Yea that’s right! What were their names again…?”

“Minhyun and Dongho, yea they moved up to Seoul three months ago from Jeju. They had similar concerns to you back then as well, being young parents can be difficult,” Jonghyun replied empathetically towards Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo nodded in agreement coupled with a soft sigh

“Would you like to meet them?” Minhyuk inquired observing the tired look on Hyunwoo’s face.

“Huh?” Hyunwoo replied confused at first.

“Would you like to meet Minhyun and Dongho, you guys probably have a lot in common, and it would be good to have a friend in a similar situation in the city,” Minhyuk explained with a smile.

“Minhyuk-hyung, Minhyun and Dongho usually pick Minki up really late, I don’t think it would be good to keep Hyunwoo-shi and his husband back that late,” Jonghyun nagged a little.

“That’s true… they’re a really nice couple though, quite the looker too,” Minhyuk quipped, earning a light slap on the arm from Jonghyun.

Hyunwoo pondered on the suggestion for a little bit, then he remembered Kihyun’s dejected expression when he described another failed attempt to befriend their neighbors. Sure, staying late wasn’t fun, but maybe this was their chance to make some actual friends in the city. “Sure, I think it would be good for us to meet, do you guys think you could help introduce us? Minhyuk-shi, Jonghyun-shi?”

“Haha leave it up to me,” Minhyuk assured.

[Back to reality]

Ten more minutes had passed. “Hyunwoo, if this is going to take any longer I’m leaving. Where are these people did they just abandon their son??”

Just at this moment a tall, lanky man in a khaki coat rushes through the front door of the kindergarten panting as if he had just sprinted a mile. In a huff he roughly pushes the classroom door open “I’m so sorry…” the man was cut short by Minki crashing into his legs to hug them declaring “MOMMY!!!!”

With a big smile that squished his eyes into crescent-moons, the man lifted Minki into his arms, “Minki-ya! How’s my big boy.” As he peppered the toddler with kisses he noticed Changkyun by his feet, having chased after Minki who suddenly got up from their little play session. 

“And who are you?” the man asks sweetly as he kneels down to the eye level of the two-year-old.

Changkyun fidgets nervously, playing with his fingers as he tries to mumble out an answer. 

“Come one baby, introduce yourself like you practiced,” Kihyun encouraged as he silently slid next to Changkyun.

Holding onto his mother’s fingers Changkyun mutters “Son-Yoo Changkyun-imnida.”

“I see, hello Changkyun, my name is Minhyun,” the man introduced himself offering his hand in greeting. 

Changkyun returned the offer and shook it shyly as Minhyun chuckled lovingly at the toddler’s adorable display. 

Turning his attention the man kneeling by Changkyun, Minhyun greeted, “I apologize for my tardiness, it’s exam season right now and I practically got mobbed by my students right when I was about to leave. I heard a little bit about your situation from Jonghyun, it is heartening to know that there is another young family in the neighborhood. Oh by the way my name is Minhyun, Hwang Minhyun, nice to meet you.”

Kihyun’s annoyance gradually dissolved as he observed the man before him. Damn Minhyuk was right when he said they were a looker. With his long coat, lean stature, subtle monolids, and perfectly placed features, Minhyun looked like a model straight out of a magazine. 

Snapped back into reality by Minhyun’s greeting, Kihyun replied, “Oh, it’s alright, it must be tough being a working parent with a young child. I’m Kihyun and that is my husband Hyunwoo, we are Changkyun’s parents.”

Minhyun looked over Kihyun’s shoulder to make eye contact with Hyunwoo who gave a slight nod as a greeting. 

“Ermmmm Minhyun-shi are you… picking Minki up on your own today?” Kihyun broaches the question cautiously.

“Oh, no no my husband is on his way, his schedule is a lot more erratic than mine is sometimes, but he promised that he will come down to meet you guys today.” Minhyun answers as he wrestles with a floppy Minki who has decided that he didn’t want to be anywhere other than his mother’s arms.

Lifting him up, Minhyun accepted a little chair from Jonghyun and proceeded to the table where Hyunwoo was seated. Minhyuk and Jonghyun had decided to stay back to moderate the meeting between the couples, the pair of co-workers could not help but giggle in the corner as they disinfected the toys at how awkward the parents were. Trailing behind Minhyun, Changkyun tried to get the attention of Minki who had buried his face in Minhyun’s neck. Behind Changkyun was Kihyun who also returned to his little chair by the table, next to his husband.

An awkward silence settles on the table as Minhyun tries to distract himself by coaxing Minki, occasionally interacting with Changkyun who was still trying to get Minki to go back to playing with him. The silence between the parents was deafening.

After what felt like forever, Minhyuk brought over a little tray of snacks to the table. “We don’t have much, only kids snacks, but I’m sure you are all quite hungry.”

Noticing the arrival of snacks, Minki immediately perked up and started grabbing at the animal crackers and cookies in the tray. Holding up a cow cracker he held it up to Minhyun and declared “Cow! Moooooooo!”

Chucking at how adorable his son is Minhyun replied with a kiss to his forehead, “Yes that’s right, that’s a cow. That’s my smart boy!”

Kyunnie was a smart boy too! Changkyun thought and he proceeded to grab a chicken cracker from the bunch, declaring to Kihyun, “Mommy, chicken, cluck cluck.”

Amused by his son’s competitive instinct Kihyun and Hyunwoo could not help but start laughing. “Yes that’s right it’s a chicken Kyunnie” Hyunwoo chuckled as he patted his son’s head. 

Not wanting to lose out, Minki picks up a dog cracker, shoves it in front of Changkyun’s face and announces “Woof woof!”. In response, Changkyun opens his mouth and gobbles up the cracker in front of him earning a round of laughter from the parents and Minhyuk and Jonghyun.

Indeed, children are the best at breaking the ice, as the tension in the room instantly dissipated. 

“So what do you and your husband do for work, Minhyun-shi,” Hyunwoo inquired once he regained his breath.

“Just Minhyun is fine. I’m a philosophy professor at Hongik University, and Dongho is a music producer. He’s been on a debut project for this new boy group for a couple of months now, so he’s had to work late quite often,” Minhyun replied apologetically, “What about you and Kihyun-shi, Hyunwoo-shi?”

“You can drop the formalities with us too, Hyunwoo is a dance instructor at an academy close to Itaewon, and I’m a freelance consultant.” Kihyun responds over Hyunwoo.

“I see, I see. Both of you must be incredibly busy then…” Minhyun was suddenly cut off by the sound of the classroom door opening. By the entrance stood a muscular figure in a short sleeved shirt, black jeans and leather sneakers. Hair slicked back, he looked like 90’s heartthrob, with the edges of a bicep tattoo peaking out from the sleeve of his shirt. Kihyun could not help but stare. Sure Hyunwoo, was extremely attractive in his own right, and he will never have eyes for anyone other than his big bear, but the specimen before him was one he had not seen in a long time. 

Sensing his husband’s stares on the man at the door and remembering how Kihyun gawked at Minhyun for two seconds earlier, Hyunwoo dug his elbow into Kihyun’s knee just a little bit. Partly to stop him from staring, and partly because he was jealous that his husband was drooling over some other guy. 

“Ow!” Kihyun yelped under his breath.

“Keep your tongue in your mouth,” Hyunwoo reprimanded playfully.

“I am so sorry for being late. Hello there, my name is Kang Dongho, I’m Minhyun’s husband, and Minki’s father,” Dongho bowed to the men and stuck out his hand in greeting.  
Kihyun and Hyunwoo took his hand and shook them accordingly while also introducing themselves. Dongho responded with an exhausted smile and sat next to his husband, not forgetting to peck some loving kisses on Minhyun and Minki’s head (refusing the chair Minhyuk offered). 

“It must be tough working as a music producer, you seem really tired,” Hyunwoo commented as he noticed the dark circles under Dongho’s eyes.

“Oh yea… hahaha, I love writing music but sometimes it get’s really frustrating when the kids can’t grasp the feelings I want to express in my songs. Today too, I was going to leave an hour ago but the kids were all over the place at our session so the main producer came down to give them a good dressing down. I wanted to leave, but it wasn’t exactly situation where I could slip out. I am really sorry for making you wait so long for us,” Dongho explained while rubbing at his sore eyes.

“We’re really so grateful to you guys for being willing to wait for us, ever since moving up here from Jeju it’s been really hard trying to make friends both for us and Minki,” Minhyun explained as Minki wriggled out of his lap to munch on cookies with Changkyun at the edge of the table.

“No worries about it, we really appreciate that you guys are willing to meet with us. We moved to Seoul from the country and we were also looking for young parent friends. May I know… how old are you guys?” Hyunwoo inquired.

“We’re both 25 this year,” Minhyun replied

Surprised at their young age Kihyun said, “Oh wow, you guys are young, I’m going to be 27 this year, and Hyunwoo is 28. Why did you guys choose to have kids so early?”

Hyunwoo slapped Kihyun on the thigh at the insensitive question which led Minhyun and Dongho to blush and awkwardly laugh in their seats.

“Hahaha, I mean we weren’t planning on having Minki, but he kind of just happened,” Dongho replied sheepishly while reaching out for his husband’s hand. “We always knew we were going to become a family together, but the pregnancy kind of brought forward our plans by a few years.”

“That’s great, Minki looks like a great kid. Changkyun doesn’t take to people easily, but seeing how comfortable they are with each other, I imagine they are great friends,” Hyunwoo interjected before Kihyun could say something senseless again.

“Minki loves talking about Changkyun, whenever he’s home with us, he always has this new story about his adventures with Kyunnie, it’s really great to get to finally meet his parents, haha,” Minhyun chuckled while looking over at the boys who were now babbling on in their own conversations in toddler talk.

“Hahaha Changkyun too, I mean he talks about everyone in class, but he always seems to bring up Minki in his conversations with us about his day. It is so adorable,” Kihyun smiled.

The parents continued chatting between themselves about life in the city, how unfamiliar everything was, and the things they’ve had to adapt to. They realized that they were similar and different in so many way. Like Kihyun, Minhyun was an absolute clean freak, scrubbing down their home relentlessly every evening no matter how tired he was. Working in the performance industries, Hyunwoo and Dongho found a common love for R&B and soul and exchanged song recommendations with one another. A big difference between the two couples was who was the chef at home. While Kihyun took up most of the cooking responsibilities in the Son-Yoo household, Dongho was the main chef in the Kang-Hwang home (albeit when he is able to make it home in time to make food, otherwise he always keeps the fridge stocked with side dishes and other foods Minhyun can just heat up for Minki and himself). The parents were getting really into their conversation when Minhyuk and Jonghyun approached them cautiously.

“It’s great to see you guys getting along, but it’s kind of getting late and I think your little ones want to go home,” Jonghyun suggested politely as he pointed at the two toddlers who had collapsed on the playmat in deep slumber.

“Yea, and we’ve got to close the center for the day so we can go home too,” Minhyuk commented with a playful smile.

“Oh my goodness, we are so so sorry, thank you so much for linking us up Minhyu-shi and Jonghyun-shi,” Kihyun rushed as he stood up to thank the pair properly.

“Yes, yes without you guys we wouldn’t have known that there was a family in a similar situation to us,” Minhyun thanked, as Dongho went over to collect his son and his stuff from the class cubbies. Hyunwood had done the same, roughly picking up Changkyun like a sack of rice, earning some giggles from Minhyuk.

With Changkyun half awake in his arms, Hyunwoo stuck out his hand to the other parents, “Thank you so much for this evening, let’s keep in touch and set up a playdate for our kids or something.” 

Dongho and Minhyun shook it carefully which woke Minki up in Dongho’s arms.

“Minki-ya say bye bye to Changkyunnie, we’re going home,” Dongho coaxed as Minki lifted his face from his father’s shoulders. 

Looking over at Changkyun who did the same Minki suddenly bursts into tears, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, KYUNNIE! I DON’T WANNA GO! WANNA PLAY WITH KYUNNIE! WAHHHHHHHH”

Seeing his best friend in tears Changkyun proceeded to wail as well, “MINKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!! NO GO HOMEEEEEEE!”

Oh lord. The mothers’ sigh as they plucked their sons from their husbands arms and attempted to soothe the grieving toddlers, while rushing their husbands out of the kindergarten.

“We’ll see you next time!” Minhyun yelled out as he tried to run towards the car with a crying Minki in his arms. “Ok ok baby, I know I know, there there, you’ll see him tomorrow ok. There there”. Dongho chased after him waving at Kihyun and Hyunwoo who also made their way to their car.

Once Kihyun managed to calm Changkyun down and strap him into his car seat, he flopped into the passenger seat and the family was off on their way home.

“That wasn’t so bad wasn’t it?” Hyunwoo commented as he drove along the bright freeway en route to their apartment.

“Hehe, they seem like good people. Genuine, kind, and pretty good parents too,” Kihyun smiled under his breath. Kihyun didn’t want to admit it but he was immensely grateful to Hyunwoo for taking the initiative to meet with Minhyun and Dongho. Sure, they had to wait close to an hour just to meet them, but finally he found people he thought he could be friends with. Finally, he found someone in a similar situation as them. The relief of having found a little community lifted an unconscious burden from his chest, and Kihyun found himself smiling as he watched the city light zoom by outside his passenger window.

“I love you,” he sighs mindlessly as he takes in the beautiful sites of the city at night.

“I love you too,” Hyunwoo replies in a heartbeat. They didn’t need to say anymore words, what needed to be said, what needed to be expressed was perfectly encapsulated in those three little words. 

Meanwhile in the other car, Minhyun and Dongho have a similar exchange, both letting out a sigh of relief that they too finally found friends they seemed to be able to trust.

Dongho rubs the back of Minhyun’s hand mindlessly as he concentrated on driving, Meanwhile, Minhyun just closed his eyes and reflected on his day, and what a wonderful day it was.


	2. First Playdate Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few months have passed since the first meeting, but the parents are still kind of awkward with each other. At the encouragement of Jonghyun and Minhyuk the families schedule a playdate, how does that go?

Disinfectant wipes. Baby wipes. Baby powder. Reusable baby cutlery. Diapers. A change of clothes. Snacks. Bib. Pacifier. Minki’s favorite blanket. Minki’s favorite pillow. Minki’s favorite toys. Minki’s favorite books.

“Minhyun-ah stop stuffing so much stuff into the bag, you are gonna break your back trying to carry all of that,” Dongho nagged as he held onto Minki all dressed up and ready to go by the nursery room door.

Hunched over the cupboard was his beloved husband Minhyun, to many this man was seemingly perfect. Perfect proportions. Perfect looks. Perfect voice. Perfect brain. Some of his friends used to make fun of him for being able to snag Minhyun away from his fans, despite being the average person he is (of course, as we’ve established that is far from true, and Dongho had his fair share of fans in college as well). Anyway, Minhyun may seem like a perfect man, straight out of a shoujo manga, but Baekho knew better than anyone that in reality, “Emperor” Hwang Minhyun was a clumsy, overthinking, naggy, adorable mess. 

“I’ll be fine, I’m just packing the essentials, everything we would need for any situation. I got these food safe disinfectant wipes the other day we can use to rub down all the surfaces, who knows if they clean those places as well as they claim,” Minhyun replied without looking up while stuffing a third pack of said wipes into an overflowing diaper bag. 

“You don’t need to bring Minki’s whole bookcase honey,” Dongho tried to reason with him as he attempted to remove some things from the bag.

“What if he gets bored in there, we need to prepare to stimulate him in a variety of ways,” Minhyun argued as he tried to pry the books out of Dongho’s hands. It didn’t work. Of course, it didn’t. Dongho’s muscles were easily twice the size of his, there was no winning in any tug-of-war.

“We also don’t need to bring the whole snack cabinet,” Dongho proceeded to toss our four bags of rice puffs.

“But what if my baby gets hungry…”

“We’ll get food for him there. What the heck why is there kimchi in here??!!” Dongho exclaimed as he picks up a small tupperware of the fermented vegetable from the depths of the diaper bag.

“I mean… you never know how outside kimchi tastes, might as well bring some of our own,” Minhyun blushed as he tried to snatch the container away from his husband. Once again, he couldn’t beat the reflexes of Kang Dongho who used to be a kendo athlete. 

With his free hand, Dongho gently pinched Minhyun’s face to make him look into his eyes. “It’s fine. Minki isn’t going to die from a kids' café, from germs or from boredom. Those places are designed to keep children entertained for days. Besides, if you are going to spend any more time trying to fit our house into this diaper bag we are going to be late for our meeting with Hyunwoo and Kihyun again.”

At the sound of that possibility, a red glow began to rise in Minhyun’s ears. If there was anything he hated more than an untidy room, it was making a bad impression on anyone, anytime. He roughly packed the rest of his “essentials” and rushed to the front door. “Let’s go, let’s go, Minki-ya let’s put on your shoes”

Dongho chuckled at his husband’s lovable behavior as he let Minki out of his arms to follow his Mother to the front door. The Kang-Hwang family were finally on their way to their first playdate in the big city.

Indeed, today was the promised playdate. After their first meeting, the Son-Yoo household and Kang-Hwang household have been keeping in frequent contact. Occasionally bumping into one another when picking up or dropping off their sons, they always made it a point to make small talk and catch up. For a while, their relationship was limited to the occasional text asking about kindergarten events, and those short conversations by the kindergarten entrance. It was rudimentary, but truth be told both pairs of parents were too shy to take the initiative to deepen their relationship beyond these polite conversations. 

The idea for a playdate once again came about in one of Hyunwoo’s random conversations with Jonghyun and Minhyuk. Since they were the ones who technically “matched made” the families, the pair of teachers have been trying to keep tabs on how things are going.

“So how as it been Hyunwoo-shi, is everything ok with Minki’s family?” Jonghyun asked one day when it was Hyunwoo’s turn to pick up Changkyun. Once again the boy was going through his round of goodbyes and kisses, this time he even made it a point to say a few words to each of his friends as a goodbye. Hyunwoo couldn’t help but choke up a little at how much his little grumpy, shy baby had grown since coming to the city.

“I mean it’s been going well we text every now and then, and we say hi and stuff,” Hyunwoo replied while still distracted by his son’s lovable display.

“Such lies, I heard from Minhyun-shi that all you talk about is what to bring to class when there are special activities. I thought you guys would have so much more to talk about since y’all are young parents and all,” Minhyuk cut in the conversation after overhearing Jonghyun’s question. Please do not misunderstand Minhyuk in this moment. Sure he could be a little straightforward and savage at times, but he was also a close friend of Hyunwoo. Despite having only known each other for about three months at this point, the two men found that they had a very accommodating dynamic, which has laid the foundation of a budding friendship. This is why Minhyuk can afford to be a little more casual and straight to Hyunwoo. 

“I mean, that’s true. We just feel so awkward, they’re so busy with their young professional lives, and we are busy with our work too, so Kihyun and I just didn’t want to intrude on them more than we should,” Hyunwoo responds to Minhyuk’s jab.

Minhyuk rolls his eyes a little, careful to not show the kids lest they start imitating him as they tended to do. “C’mon Hyunwoo. You guys wanted to make friends in the city, texts about whether to bring aprons or carrots to class isn’t going to get you anywhere. You’ve gotta meet, interact, converse.”

“I know, I know, but how could we do that? It’s not like we could leave the boys alone in our homes, our parents all live far away, and babysitters in the evenings and weekends are hella expensive.”

“Well, you’ve got to think of something right?”

“What would you suggest smartypants?”

“Have you guys ever thought about going to a kids' café?” Jonghyun chimed in carefully.

Minhyuk and Hyunwoo took a pause in their bickering. Kids café. Huh, that was an idea.

Sensing a silence that needed to be filled Jonghyun continued, “Yea I heard from my sister that Seoul has some really elaborate kids cafes with jungle gyms, miniature supermarkets, dress-up stations, etc, with a decently sized café sitting area for the parents. Since everything is kid-proofed in a kids' café, maybe you and Kihyun-shi could invite the Kang-Hwangs to go there together. Y’all can have a good talk with Minhyun-shi and Dongho-shi, while Changkyun and Minki burn their energy in the play areas.”

“Jjong you are a genius!” Minhyuk declared as he gave his co-worker a quick peck on the cheeks.

A kids' café, why did Hyunwoo never think of that? He wondered to himself as he made a mental note to bring it up to Kihyun.

Hearing the name of his best friend called out, Changkyun looks up at his father and asked inquisitively, “Minki?”. Minki was down with the flu that day so he hadn’t been in class all day and Changkyun felt awfully lonely without him.

Picking Changkyun up Hyunwoo says, “Mmmhmm, Minki. Does Kyunnie want to go to a kids' café with Minki?”

Changkyun didn’t understand 90% of what Hyunwoo just said, his two-year-old vocabulary was still very limited. But he recognized the word Minki and raised his arms in excitement. “Kyunnie love Minki!”

Hyunwoo took that as a yes to the kids' café and proceeded out of the kindergarten after giving his thanks to Minhyuk and Jonghyun. “Thanks guys for the great suggestion.”

“Anytime,” Jonghyun waved at the father and son as they walked toward their car. 

Once he Hyunwoo got home, he raised this suggestion to Kihyun who cautiously agreed to it, “As long as they’re free.”

With that Hyunwoo shot a quick text over to Dongho suggesting the playdate at the kids' café. Both Dongho and Minhyun seemed pretty onboard with the idea, so the parents settled on a good time, date, and location. Soon enough, that fateful day arrived and the Son-Yoo’s pulled up to the mall that housed the kids café Kihyun found online. After the car was parked, Kihyun got out and proceeded to unbuckle a wiggly Changkyun from his car seat. Changkyun had heard that today was a special day, and he could play with Minki even though there was no school. The thought of being able to play with his best friend even more than he already did made Changkyun giddy with excitement; needless to say he barely slept the night before.

“Oooojuju there’s my baby,” Kihyun kissed Changkyun’s chubby cheeks as he lifted him out of the car seat and onto the ground so the toddler could start walking. Okay, Changkyun was practically dragging Kihyun in a random direction once his little feet touched the ground, “Minkiiiii!”

“Kyunnie, ooof, baby, the door is this way,” Kihyun tried to rein in the toddler while attempting not to trip over his son. Hyunwoo could only chuckle at this adorable sight, oh how he loved his little family. 

As the Son-Yoo’s approached the elevator into the building they heard a piercing wail cut through the air, muffling out a somewhat familiar voice.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

“Baby I know you’re sleepy but you can’t sleep in the car, we finally got here.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

“What’s wrong baby, what’s wrong?”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

“Kang-Hwang Minki you stop this nonsense right now or I’m gonna hit your bum,” a stern voice different from the one before cuts in.

“Don’t scare him like that,” the other scolds.

“He’s at the age where he needs to learn how to control his emotions and be reasonable,” the other argued back.

“He’s two.”

“Exactly, he’s already two. Minhyun you can’t keep babying…” At the moment the family in question came into Kihyun and Hyunwoo’s view, and the parents made eye contact. Slightly embarrassed by their son’s hysterical display, Minhyun and Dongho make an awkward greeting with a slight bow.

“Minki-ya, look look! It’s Kyunnie,” Minhyun tries to get the attention of a whimpering Minki who had buried his head in his mother’s shoulder. 

“*hick* Kyunnie? *hick*” Minki lifts his head to look at the direction Minhyun was pointing at.

“Mmhmmm, Kyunnie’s right there.”

“KYUNNIE!!!!” Minki exclaims at the sight of his best friend. With swollen eyes and a runny nose from his crying earlier, Minki wiggled out of Minhyun’s arms and made a beeline towards Changkyun. Shocked by the toddler’s sudden sprint, Dongho, and Minhyun dash right after him, flanking his either side watching out for cars in the relatively empty carpark.

Minki crashes excitedly into Changkyun’s arms nearly knocking the toddler over, luckily Hyunwoo was able to brace Changkyun’s back for the impact preventing either of them from falling. “Kyunnie! Kyunnie! Kyunnie!” Minki excitedly proclaims while holding Changkyun tightly in his embrace.

“Hehe Minki,” Changkyun giggles along with his excited best friend, clearly one of them was the calm baby between the two.

“*hoof* Hello *hoof* Kihyun, Hyunwoo *hoof* I hope *hoof* you didn’t *hoof* wait long,” Minhyun pants as he dabs the beads of sweat formed on his forehead. As lean as Minhyun was he wasn’t the fittest cookie in the jar, I mean being a university professor in philosophy no less, means that most of his days were spent at a desk marking papers or doing research. Most of his daily movement is restricted to movement between classrooms and pacing around during his lectures. 

“No worries, we just got here too, are you doing alright?” Kihyun asks concerned at the haggard young’un who was two years younger than he was.

“Yea *hoof* just not much of a runner,” Minhyun waved off his concern while Dongho tried to suppress his laughter at how pathetic his husband looked. 

“I’ve told you to go to the gym with me more honey. Anyway, thank you for inviting us out today, Minki was really excited,” Dongho says to Hyunwoo and Kihyun.

“Oh yea, of course, actually Jonghyun gave me the suggestion. It’s probably a good treat for the kids too,” Hyunwoo chuckled as he observed how Changkyun was trying desperately to peel away from Minki who was now attempting to kiss him. 

“Minki, what did I tell you about giving people unwanted kisses,” Dongho tried to pry his two-year-old off the entanglement of toddlers at his feet.

“Haha it’s ok. Changkyun-ah just let Minki give you a kiss,” Hyunwoo chuckled as he tried to prevent his son from falling over.

“Anyway, shall we head in?” Kihyun gestured to the elevator and the mothers led the way to the kids' café as the dad’s finally decided to pick the toddlers up and head up to their playdate.

When they arrived at the door both families were stunned into silence for a good few seconds. Before them was an elaborate set up of game stations, and obstacles courses, interactive challenges, and statues of the nation’s favorite cartoon characters in a facility that did not seem to end. There was nothing like this in Jeju, and there was definitely nothing like this in the countryside. So this is what the big city hid in its concrete and glass buildings.

The kids were the quickest to adjust. Spotting their favorite cartoon characters Minki and Changkyun dashed into the café. “LOOOPY!” Minki exclaimed as he tried to climb onto the statue of the penguin in a purple coat.

“Daddy!!” Changkyun screamed as he grabbed onto the leg of the polar bear in overalls.

Kihyun stifled a chuckle while Hyunwoo buried his glowing cheeks in his palm. “Kyunnie, that isn’t daddy, it’s Poby,” Kihyun tried to explain as he hoisted his son into the lap of the polar bear statue.

Changkyun took one look at Poby, one look at Hyunwoo, one look at Kihyun, and said, “Daddy.”

If Changkyun says Poby is Daddy, Poby is Daddy I guess. Minhyun and Dongho tried to hide their chuckles as they entered the café as well.

Jonghyun definitely was not kidding about the scale of these kids' cafes in Seoul. They were huge, and there was so much to do. The toddlers were so excited at the sight of their new playground that their parents quite literally had to double team on them to wrestle their shoes off to let them into the main play areas. Once they were released from the hold of their parents, both Minki and Changkyun dashed to the jungle gym. Within seconds the boys disappeared into the maze of cushioned pillars, plastic slides, and netted walls.  
Ever the worrywart, Minhyun slapped Dongho’s shoulders and said, “Go follow after him, what if he gets hurt?!!”

“What are you expecting me to fit into that, Minhyun look at the size of that entrance, my thigh would barely fit in.” Dongho did have very toned and muscular thighs Kihyun observed.

“Well if I go after them I’m going to end up in a pretzel and in the hospital so stop complaining and go after him. Just watch him at least, please,” Minhyun shot Dongho with his slight puppy eyes and that was enough to dissolve Dongho’s reluctance. With a light groan, Dongho follows the kids into the jungle gym, lo and behold he actually did get in, it was a squeeze, but it fits.

“I probably should join him and watch out for the boys too,” Hyunwoo commented as he jogged after Dongho. “Get me an iced americano would you honey?’

“Sure,” Kihyun answered plainly as he started walking towards the café area, “C’mon Minhyun, let’s pick some nice snacks and drinks.”

Minhyun stood in his spot for a couple of minutes, anxiously trying to spot Minki and his husband, but eventually decided to join Kihyun once he could hear the excited squeals of his son. 

At the counter Kihyun began reading off items on the menu he wanted to order, “Hi could we get two iced americanos, a cheesecake, and a serving of fries too? Minhyun what would you like?”

“Ermmm, could I get a peppermint tea, another iced Americano, fruit yogurt, and chocolate chip cookies please?”

The employee at the counter rung up their order, and just as Minhyun was taking out his wallet Kihyun gestured for him to stop, “I’ll get it it’s fine.”

“No no no, we can’t trouble you like that. You invited us out and found this great place, the least I could do is to pay for the snacks.”

“It’s alright, don’t sweat it. You can get the bill next time. For today let hyung pay for it,” Kihyun waved off his concern as he handed his credit card over to the cashier. Kihyun could not exactly identify why he had the instinct to foot the bill at that moment. People who know him know that Yoo Kihyun was an infamous miser, looking for every opportunity to save money and take advantage of a good deal. But Kihyun was also a big spender when it came to his friends and people he cared about. Minhyun didn’t exactly fit into either of those categories yet, but perhaps it was a mixture of affection as another young parent, or just a protective instinct stemming from him being older than Minhyun. Either way, his hand was moved by intangible instinct, but it felt right. 

“Thank you,” Minhyun expressed his gratitude with a slight bow.

“Hahaha no problem, also Minki must be a really healthy child for you to get yogurt for him.”

“Oh… haha… that’s for Dongho. He likes to decorate and eat yogurt cups, the former a little more than the latter to be honest,” Minhyun divulged a little secret to Kihyun.  
Imagining Dongho with his muscles, tattoos and leather boots decorating yogurt cups was definitely amusing and Kihyun could not help but laugh out loud at the mental image it created. “Hahahhahaha, who knew Dongho would be into something like that.” The mothers laugh at Dongho’s adorable preferences together as they collected their items and found a table that offered a good view of the main play area.

As they took their seat, Changkyun and Minki were sliding down the largest slides in the jungle gym while sitting in their father’s arms. Once they touched down the boys determined that they had had enough of the jungle gym. Now it was dress-up time! They made a mad dash for the dress-up zone which housed closets of fake suits, costumes, dresses, and a bunch of other dress-up materials. It was like a Barbie closet for children. Minki and Changkyun browse around their options. Firemen? No too orange. Police? No too many badges. Knights? No the sword was scary, looked way too real. Doctors? Doctors are scary so no. Princesses? Yes, princesses. Having made their choice, the toddlers picked out their dress of choice. For Minki it was a light pink tulle dress with blue highlights and sparkles all over the skirt. For Changkyun, a purple ensemble made of chiffon with gold streaks in the bodice and black accents in the skirt. The boys led brought their choices before their father to help them put them on.

“Ermmmm…. Kyunnie are you sure you want that? Dresses are for girls… why don’t you be a little prince?” Hyunwoo gestures to a dashing costume in the closet next to them.

Changkyun shook his head and said, “Kyunnie wanna play princess with Minki.”

Looking over at Dongho, Hyunwoo tried to mentally send a message, “what do we do? Do we just let them wear dresses of all things?”

Dongho knelt down to his son’s eye level and said, “Does Minki want to be a princess? Are you sure?”

Minki scrunched his face in a smile and nodded, “Minki be pretty pretty princess.”

“Yes, my Minki will be the prettiest princess in the land. C’mon let daddy help you get into your pretty princess dress,” Dongho gave Minki a quick peck on the cheek and instructed his son to step into the pink dress he had already unzipped.

Admittedly, Hyunwoo was rather shocked at first. It was the first time he had ever met a parent so cool with their sons indulging in girly forms of play. Furthermore, it was Dongho of all people, the man with tattoos, muscles, and leather boots. Following his lead, Hyunwoo helped Changkyun slip into his dress and zipped up the back for his son. Satisfied with their looks the toddlers raced to find their mothers to show off their transformation.

Dongho and Hyunwoo got up with a grunt. Chasing after toddlers in a jungle gym maze designed for children was not great for their back or their knees. 

“I’m surprised you would be so open to letting your son wear a dress. Most fathers would snatch it away from them they minute their son even touched it,” Hyunwoo remarked to Dongho as they started hobbling behind their sons.

“Haha, yea I’ve seen that a lot. Minki likes traditionally girly things, like dolls, and makeup, and fairies, and stuff and that’s fine to me. It doesn’t make him any less of a boy, or whatever he wants to be when he grows up. All that matters is that he’s happy. Besides, when I was a kid I wanted to be a princess too,” Dongho chuckled in response to Hyunwoo.

“Right…” Hyunwoo replies absentmindedly. Dongho had said something rather intriguing to him. Something that made him think. Despite the seemingly “liberal” parenting philosophy Dongho held, the way he said it so nonchalantly made it feel almost natural and normal. Boys in dresses? Back in his time he probably would have been spanked till his bum went raw if he even entertained the thought. But maybe… that wasn’t the way to go. Was that the way he wanted to raise Changkyun? He made a mental note to talk about this with Kihyun sometime.

As the rounded the corner, they caught sight of their husbands fawning over their adorable sons.

“Minki-ya you are so adorable, come let mommy take a picture.”

“Kyunnie is the cutest princess in the world, come here give mommy a kiss.”

This view of their sons and husband cuddling thoroughly melted Dongho and Hyunwoo’s hearts. They both stood hidden behind the corner to observe the view before them. At that moment, both men wished their minds were capable of creating physical records of their memories. The sight of their beautiful beloved husbands, playing with and giving kisses to their adorable, lovely children was truly a sight to behold. Their heart swelled with affection like the first time they met their loves or the first time they shared a kiss with the men they have chosen to dedicate their lives too. They were fools. Dongho and Hyunwoo were utter fools for these men and these boys.

“What are you two creeps doing over there spying on your husbands and your sons,” Kihyun called out when he spotted Hyunwoo’s polka-dotted socks around the corner. Hyunwoo had his adorable quirks too, quirks only he knew. 

“Haha, we got some snacks and drinks, come over and have some,” Minhyun chimed.

“I’m allowed to stare at the most beautiful man in the world if I want to,” Hyunwoo replied pretending to be indignant towards Kihyun’s earlier comment.

“And I’m allowed to spy on the love of my life,” Dongho followed as he approached the table with Hyunwoo and planted a gentle kiss in Minhyun’s hair.

The edges of Kihyun and Minhyun’s ears started to burn at these corny comments, but they could not hide their shy and flattered smiles. 

For a moment it was like time stopped, but reality kicked in real quick, the fantastical moment being broken by Minhyun yelling, “Minki-ya! Get that out of your mouth, who knows where’s that been?!!!” Minhyun tried desperately to pry the plastic jewel from Minki’s necklace out of his son’s mouth.

Kihyun, Hyunwoo, and Dongho could not help but laugh. What even is romance and romantic moments when you are a parent. They were far too occupied to ensuring their children didn’t kill them or themselves. But even this reality can be awfully sweet, and the men thanked their prayers for their lovely little families, and their lovely little friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi There!
> 
> I ended up writing way too much, and I still have so much more to write so I am splitting this into two chapters. Hope you enjoyed parents Showki and parents Baekmin. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, feedback and requests!


	3. The First Playdate Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of the eventful playdate. The couples deepen their relationship, while Changkyun sinks his teeth in?

“So baby, what I’m telling you is, there are millions of germs in the world, and they exist on all these surfaces you touch. That’s why you’ve got to clean them before you touch them, and you can’t chew on them. Mommy isn’t scolding you or nagging you because he is mad, mommy just doesn’t want Minki to get sick. Okay? So don’t do that again ok? Germs are really bad, they will make your tummy hurt and maybe even end up in the hospital. Do you like the hospital? No right? So you’ve got to listen to what mommy says okay? If you end up in the hospital,” Minhyun is cut off abruptly by Dongho.

“Honey stop, you’ve been going on for 30minutes, let the kid have a cookie.”

"Dongho, we need to teach him these things so he doesn’t hurt himself. So Minki, as I was saying if you end up in the hospital,” before Minhyun could continue he feels his face being forcefully turned and a familiar set of lips plant themselves on his own. 

Minki giggled at this display of affection as Dongho sneaked a cookie to his son while Minhyun was distracted. Hyunwoo and Kihyun’s eyes widened at the show playing out before them. When Dongho finally broke contact a deep red flush rose in Minhyun’s cheeks who proceeded to hang his head in embarrassment, while also furiously punching his husband’s muscular arm.

“Minki-ya do you want to go play with Changkyun?” Dongho inquired of his son. In response, Minki’s large eyes lit up and nodded enthusiastically while continuing to munch on his cookies. “Okay, go have some fun boys.”

At that signal, Changkyun and Minki slipped out of their highchairs, snacks in hand to go back to the main play area. For a minute Kihyun was afraid that they would trip on the hems of their skirt, but true to kids café fashion those dresses were too short to be stepped on -- truly kid proofed as Jonghyun said. 

“Why the hell did you do that?” Minhyun muttered as he tried to calm himself down with sips of his peppermint tea. 

“Because that is the only way I know to shut you up,” Dongho replied defiantly as he playfully sips at his iced Americano. He knew Minhyun feels awkward with public displays of affection no matter how much he secretly loved it. So he took especial joy in pulling stunts like these when his husband least expected it. 

“Pabo tiger,” Minhyun land another weak punch on Dongho’s bicep.

“Anyway,” changing the subject, “how have you been since we last met?” Dongho asks looking at the couple sitting across from him.

“Huh? Oh busy, really busy, I recently got hired to do more projects so it’s been pretty hectic,” Kihyun replies after snapping back to reality. A part of him was incredibly jealous of Minhyun, sure Hyunwoo was affectionate, but they rarely shared moments of public affection like how Dongho did so naturally with Minhyun. When was he going to get random kisses from his husband in the middle of a café? Unconsciously his eyes turned to look at Hyunwoo, who sensed a telepathic message being sent his way.

Shrugging off and trying to ignore the messages being sent through Kihyun’s eyes, “Some of the kids at the academy are preparing for auditions so they’ve been requesting for extra privates and stuff. But overall it’s been pretty good, Kyunnie is adjusting well and that is all we could ask for. How is the group you were helping prepare for their debut Dongho?”

“Oh those kids, we were able to wrap up recording pretty smoothly eventually. They actually debuted a couple of days ago, they’re called Tempest, don’t know if you’ve heard of them.”

“Tempest? Like that play by Shakespeare?” Kihyun asked rather perturbed by the group name.

“I had the exact same reaction,” Minhyun nodded in agreement.

“Hahahaha, yea… we don’t pick the names. Honestly, K-pop has been getting so saturated with groups lately that companies are really scrambling at anything they can to come up with a catchy group name.”

“Hahahaha, I’ve actually heard of them from a couple of students at the academy. Their title song is pretty catchy, did you write it?”

“Oh it’s great to hear that the song is being well received by the public. Yea, a couple of hyungs and I produced the album together. Produced the songs, wrote the lyrics,” Dongho replied evidently proud of his work and the rookies he helped debut. 

“Oh wow, that’s really impressive, what’s your producer name I’ll try to look out for it next time I’m coming up with choreography for a class,” Hyunwoo offered.

“Really?! Oh my goodness, thank you so much! To be honest I have only just started getting into the business so I don’t have much, but my alias is Baekho.”

“Baekho? Like White Tiger?” Hyunwoo cocked his head to the side as he wrote the name down in his phone to refer back to in the future.

Dongho blushed at the comment and replied, “Yea hahaha, a noona in my neighborhood said that I look like that character in Slam Dunk so it’s been my nickname for a while now. When I decided I wanted to get into music I chose it cause it was convenient and pretty unique, I think.”

“His name might be Tiger but he really is a lot more like a kitten or a puppy,” Minhyun teased, trying to get back at him for the kiss earlier. This only earned him a hard jab in the thigh which made him slightly choke on his tea. 

“Hahaha it does suit you, being all manly and buff. Have you ever thought about being a singer since you write songs and stuff,” Kihyun asks innocently.

A sudden silence befalls the table. 

Shit, I messed up again. Kihyun thinks to himself as he struggles to find a way to salvage the icy atmosphere.

“Haha, sorry, I didn’t mean to react like that. I would be lying if I said that it never crossed my mind, but if you look at the industry nowadays there is no way an old guy like me can compete. Also, once I started dipping my toes in the producing world I heard these horror stories of companies exploiting their artists, and controlling their every move, that isn’t really a lifestyle I wanted so I stuck to doing behind the scenes work instead,” Dongho explained. “Besides, if I became a singer, I probably wouldn’t be able to get married and have a child with the love of my life.” Dongho plants a light peck on Minhyun’s cheek inviting another surge of pink on Minhyun’s cheeks. 

Is this what being young and in love looks like?!!! Kihyun internally screams at this sight and sneaks peeks at Hyunwoo who was looking straight ahead avoiding any eye contact. Idiot bear, I’m gonna deal with you so bad once we get home.

Kihyun is being stupid again. Hyunwoo thinks as he tries to avoid his husband’s gaze. “What about you Minhyun, how did you come to be a philosophy professor?”

“Who? Me? Oh haha, I’ve always been kind of a bookworm, and I used to daydream a lot as a kid. Thinking about stuff I’ve read and trying to make sense of it all in relation to my life. Philosophy kind of came naturally to me in high school and college, even though all my friends hated it. So I guess, one thing led to another, and here I am, lil ol’ Professor Hwang.”

“Minhyun is actually the youngest Professor in the Hongdae philosophy faculty and that is cause he finished his Ph.D. in like two years, and his final thesis got published in the best American Philosophy journal,” Dongho bragged despite Minhyun’s attempts to shut him up.

“I mean, it really wasn’t that great. My mentor had submitted it to the journal behind my back. We just had Minki at the time and I wanted to get done with my thesis as soon as I could so I could start working and stuff but well… it happened. And I’m grateful, if that didn’t happen, I doubt I would have gotten the job at Hongdae,” Minhyun sheepishly explained. 

Kihyun and Hyunwoo were stunned. Here they were sitting across a couple, younger than them, with a kid their age. One of them was a music producer producing whole ass albums, the other was the youngest faculty member in Hongik University’s philosophy department. People like this actually existed, these supernatural beings with the looks, the brains, and the talent. All of a sudden they felt awfully small. 

“How did you guys get started in your careers?” Minhyun asked not noticing the dumbfounded expressions on Kihyun and Hyunwoo’s face.

“Well, my dad ran a business when I was a kid so I’ve always been interested in that world. Growing up I also realized that I liked coming up with ideas and solutions to problems, and helping people achieve their solutions. I didn’t really know what to do with that for a while, but when I went to college a professor suggested that I try being a consultant. I did a couple of internships, working for a firm for a few years, and now I’m a freelancer,” Kihyun gives a rundown of his life story.

“Do you prefer being a freelancer or working for a firm?” Minhyun asks intrigued by a path so different from his own.

“I mean… there are good and bad points to both. When I was at the firm my hours were terrible. I was always in the office by 8 am and I rarely left before 11 pm. My health was terrible, and I never had time for family or friends. But firm life meant stability and a constant income. Being a freelancer means I have way more flexibility, but I’m living contract by contract which was a little scary at first since I didn’t have a reputation yet.”

“Yea Changkyun only became a thing because Kihyun decided to become a freelancer,” Hyunwoo implied earning himself a slap from a beet red Kihyun.

“Hhhahahah, what about you Hyunwoo-hyung,” Dongho asks, he was beginning to growing really fond of Hyunwoo who shared his love of teasing their husbands.

“Hahhahaha, school was never really my thing. I got decent grades but I really enjoyed more physical activities as a kid. I played a tonne of different sports but I eventually got tired of doing the same thing over and over again. Eventually, I found dance, and it’s kind of been my life since. I was a late starter so I can’t do the classical stuff, but I was able to get into college for hip hop and then a job in the academy I’m at right now.”

“Hyunwoo-hyung used to have girls waiting outside the dance faculty practice rooms just to get a glimpse of him, it was crazy,” Kihyun boasted.

“Yea and in the end, I still chose this fool to be my husband.”

“You said I was the most beautiful man in the world!”

“You are, doesn’t make you any less of a fool.”

“Shut up and drink your coffee. Why can’t you be more romantic like Dongho.” OOOOOO Kihyun let his jealousy slip out.

“I mean if you want it I can totally do that,” Hyunwoo mockingly puckers his lips and leans in on Kihyun who leans back in disgust at his husband’s buffoonery. 

“Stop you’re being gross!” Kihyun complains as he tries to escape Hyunwoo’s tight hug.

“I thought you wanted to be more lovey-dovey babe, why you being all shy now?” Hyunwoo relentlessly pursued his target.

Dongho and Minhyun could not help but laugh at all that was going on. Was this really what they looked like? No right? Minhyun playfully plants a kiss on Dongho’s cheek and wraps his arms around his husband’s broad shoulders in full view of Kihyun almost to tease him and the situation he wounded himself in.

“Look, look at them. Can’t you be more like them??” Kihyun protests as he points at the couple across from them, his body practically being crushed into the seat next to him as he tries to avoid the pink lip attack.

“I’m trying, you’re not working with me,” Hyunwoo mockingly whines as he finally lands a saliva dripping kiss on Kihyun’s chin. 

Kihyun wipes his chin exaggeratedly as if he didn’t enjoy it (he did), leading to a round of laughter between the four men. Having this conversation was really nice, they were finally getting to know each other as people and not just parents of their child’s best friend. It also was becoming very evident that they had a very complimenting dynamic, and the couples felt naturally at ease with one another. As time ticked by the men delved into a variety of conversations. What the children were like at home, what they’ve heard about the school from the boys, their hopes for the future, why they chose to move to the big city away from their families. The conversation flowed naturally from one topic to another, and soon they were chatting as if they had been lifelong friends. They had been talking so incessantly that they actually ordered an extra round of drinks, for themselves, and some extra ice chocolates for the boys who had been doing their thing in the play area. 

Ever so often, the men would take turns checking on them in the main play zones, confirming that they were safe, and no one was putting anything in their mouths. Changkyun and Minki were good toddlers, despite being only two they were plenty good at entertaining themselves, whining only for the occasional diaper change, and snack. Otherwise, they were content with each other’s company and the infinite possibilities of the kid’s café. 

“Yea it was crazy, so once I had this client who had this wild idea of opening a tiger cub café, and,” Kihyun was abruptly cut off by a shrill scream reverberating through the kids’ café. 

Recognizing whose scream it was, Dongho and Minhyun jumped from their seat and took off in search of their son. Kihyun and Hyunwoo chase after them in a panic. The scene they run into is Changkyun lying on top of Minki in the ball pit, teeth biting firming onto the pale arm of the toddler beneath him. Minki tries desperately to push Changkyun off while screaming and crying in pain. But no matter how hard he tried, Changkyun was not budging. 

“SON-YOO CHANGKYUN!!!!” Kihyun yells out as he grabs his son by the waist. Shocked from hearing someone call his name, Changkyun relaxes his jaw in confusion, allowing Dongho to sweep up a distraught Minki. 

Fuck. Hyunwoo thought. There go our chances of being friends with them, and we were having such a great time too. Kihyun thought the exact same thing as he struggled to find his words.

“Shhhhhh shhhhhh, what happened Minki what happened?” Dongho soothes the toddler as he bounces him lightly as he left the ball pit. Minhyun followed his husband, leaving Kihyun and Hyunwoo sitting awkwardly with Changkyun looking visibly confused in their arms. 

“Minki pain?” Changkyun asks looking up at Hyunwoo.

No shit sherlock. Hyunwoo thought while suppressing the urge to give his two-year-old a good dressing down. 

Noticing that Kihyun and Hyunwoo had not followed them out, Minhyun peered back into the ball pit area and motioned for the family to come out and join them on the large playmat outside. 

Kihyun hurriedly scooped up Changkyun and followed Minhyun’s motion with Hyunwoo right behind him. When they exited the ball pit and found a spot to sit down by Minhyun who was next to Dongho, Minki was beginning to calm down. 

“What happened baby?” Dongho asks gently.

“Kyunnie *hick* Kyunnie *hick hick* Kyunnie he *hick* bite *hick* me,” Minki replies pointing at the deep red mark on his forearm. On his pale white skin the bite mark was starkly obvious, but in reality, it was not a deep wound. I mean they were made by a two-year-old after all. Minhyun whips out a disinfectant wipe and wipes the wound gently as Dongho continues to speak to the toddler in his soft, almost musical voice. 

“How did it happen Minki?”

“Kyunnie *hick* and Minki *hick* play ball. Then *hick hick hick* Kyunnie on Minki *hick* and bite me.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Yea *hick hick* Kyunnie scary. Minki scared *hick hick*” Minki proceeds to bury his head in Dongho’s chest.

Dongho looks over at Kihyun and Hyunwoo who instinctively straighten their back as if they were about to be reprimanded by their school principal. Instead of making eye contact with the parents Dongho places a gentle gaze on Changkyun and asks, “Changkyun-ah, why did you bite Minki?”

Changkyun cocks his head to the side as if confused by the question, “Kyunnie likes Minki. Kyunnie loves Minki!”

“Does Changkyun bite people he likes?” Dongho asks this time looking at Kihyun.

A stiff shiver runs down his spine as Kihyun snapped into attention to answer the question. Dongho was very soft-spoken and speaking in a very gentle tone throughout, but both Kihyun and Hyunwoo had this instinctive fear that beneath it all was a fiery rage the man was trying to contain. “Yea…. It’s a really bad habit of his, we’ve been trying to correct it for a long time now, but it still happens every so often. He’s bitten me, and Hyunwoo multiple times. I’m really really sorry, we should have raised him better, and been more diligent in teaching him what not to do.”

Kihyun shifts nervously in his seat as he tries to convey his sincerity. He meant every word he said, and he was mentally shooting himself for not being harsher on Changkyun for his bad habit. It was fine when it was him or Hyunwoo, but on someone else’s kid?! That was a huge no-no.

Hyunwoo holds onto Kihyun’s hand and says, “If Minki needs to see the doctor we’ll pay for the consultation and medicine fees. I hope you don’t hold it against Changkyun, it’s our fault that this happened, and we are really sorry about it.” Hyunwoo lowers his head slightly in a bow towards the younger father who sat before him. 

Turning his attention back to Minki, Dongho lifted the toddler to meet his son’s eyes. “Minki-ya, can you hear daddy? Listen to daddy very carefully okay?”

Minki nods weakly as he rubs his eyes which were swollen and red from his violent sobbing. 

“Changkyunnie likes you a lot, and he thought you were so pretty and adorable that he wanted to bite you. Remember how daddy likes to pretend to eat you because you are so lovable and cute?”

Minki nods in understanding recalling all the times Dongho would playfully nibble at his fingers before bedtime. 

“So, Changkyunnie isn’t scary, he just loves Minki sooooo much that he couldn’t take it anymore and bit you. He didn’t know you were in pain, but Changkyun is sorry about it. Right?” Dongho looks over at Changkyun who quickly nods at the behest of his parents.

Minki follows his father’s gaze to see a Changkyun looking visibly worried at his best friend’s meltdown. “Kyunnie no monster? Kyunnie love Minki?”

“Mmmhmm, do you want to ask Kyunnie yourself?” Dongho sets Minki down who toddles over to Changkyun.

“Kyunnie monster?”

Changkyun shakes his head violently at his best friend’s inquiry. “Kyunnie no monster. Kyunnie good boy.”

“Kyunnie love Minki?”

Changkyun nods his head vigorously, “Kyunnie love Minki. Minki pain?”

Minki nods slightly as he tries to stifle another round of waterworks rising to his tear ducts recalling the shock of being bitten by Changkyun.

Sensing this Changkyun rises from Kihyun’s lap and hugs Minki choking back tears of his own. He finally realized that he had hurt his best friend in an attempt to show his affection. “Kyunnie no like pain. Kyunnie no like sad Minki. Kyunnie sowwie.”

Minki returns the hug and replies, “It’s okay. Minki love Kyunnie too. Minki forgive Kyunnie.”

“There we go, so who wants ice cream?” Minhyun suggests leading to excited shrills of affirmation from both toddlers. Minki and Changkyun break off from their hug and dash towards the café area to choose their ice cream flavors hand in hand. 

When the kids ran off Kihyun and Hyunwoo finally let out the breaths they had been holding the entire time. Looking cautiously over at Minhyun and Dongho, Kihyun squeaks, “We’re… we’re really sorry about what happened. If there is anything we can do, like Hyunwoo said, pay for the doctor’s visit or medicine we’ll do it for sure.”

Dongho looks back with a relaxed expression and waved off that suggestion with a smile, “Haha it’s fine. Kids do stuff like this all the time, as long as there was no malicious intent it’s nothing to worry about. Besides, the wound wasn’t even that deep, it’ll go away by tonight.”

“But still, our son brought pain to your son, there must be something we can do to make up for it,” Hyunwoo insists as he fumbles his pockets searching for his wallet. 

Minhyun raises a hand indicating to both parents to stop trying to “make it up to them”, “All kids have a unique way of expressing their affection for the things they love, Changkyun just like biting things. Minki likes choking people with his hugs and planting millions of unwanted kisses on them. As they grow older they need to learn not only how to express themselves in a manner that is healthy and safe, but also how to deal with other people’s actions and displays of affection. They’re two-year-olds who are still learning this, and one day they will learn how to be more conscious of their actions. Changkyun didn’t mean to hurt Minki, and that is all that matters. Besides, look at them holding hands and looking at the ice cream like the best friends they are.”

Kihyun and Hyunwoo follow Minhyun’s finger and found that Minki and Changkyun were indeed bouncing excitedly and babbling on about what flavors they wanted from the refrigerated display. 

“Everything’s fine,” Dongho reassured as he patted both Kihyun and Hyunwoo on the shoulder reaffirming that neither he nor Minhyun was mad.

Angels, pure angels. Kihyun thought as he finally felt his beating heart calm down to a steady rhythm. Honestly, he wouldn’t have blamed Minhyun and Dongho if they never wanted to meet them ever again because of this incident. In fact, he wasn’t even sure that he could be as calm, as wise, and as reasonable as they were if the incident was the other way around. Something about Minhyun and Dongho’s calm demeanor and gentle way of parenting was fascinating to Kihyun, and he was developing a deep respect for the young pair, especially since they were both younger than Hyunwoo and himself. 

Similarly, and once again, Hyunwoo was surprised by the parenting methods of Dongho and Minhyun. Open-minded. Kind. Gentle, yet firm. It was a style he had never seen before, and one guided by so much purpose and intent. There was a lot he could learn from them, and he felt incredibly grateful that this bridge was not burned as a result of Changkyun’s terrible habit. He made a mental note to have a stern talk with Changkyun to try and curb this habit once and for all. 

Both families approached the café area and got two giant servings of ice cream to forget about the events that just passed. At the table, Changkyun and Minki had fun babbling in a mixture of their limited Korean and baby talk to each other, while the parents fawned over their sons and continued conversations that were interrupted. Once the boys it were done with their ice creams it was approaching 2 pm, high time for the boys to take a nap. As Changkyun and Minki took turns yawning and rubbing their sleepy eyes, it was a firm signal that it was time for the families to return home for the day. Despite the weak wiggles in protest, Minhyun, Dongho, Kihyun, and Hyunwoo were able to slip the dresses of their sons, put on their shoes, and head off to their cars to return to their respective homes. By the time the families had reached the carpark, Minki and Changkyun were comfortable knocked out in their father’s arms, exhausted by their fun-filled day at the kids’ café. 

“Thank you so much for inviting us out today, we had a lot of fun and so did Minki,” Minhyun whispers to Kihyun as he gives him a soft hug so as to not wake up the toddlers.

“Thank you for coming out, we had a great time,” Kihyun replied, in the same manner, returning the hug.

“Let us know when the next playdate will be,” Dongho whispers carefully.

“Will do,” Hyunwoo nods lightly.

With that, the two families split up, got to their cars, and heading off to their respective homes. Despite the ups and downs, the wails, and the screams, it was a good day. A successful first playdate and the relationship between the two families deepened that much more. Both pairs of husbands rode home in comfortable, exhausted silence, but they were all thinking the same thing.

We finally have some friends in the big city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!
> 
> Hoof, I hope you are enjoying this so far! I realized that I write a lot of dialogue and my content is really really domestic. Not sure if anyone else likes this style, hope it isn't boring anyone. I'm not great with explicitly sweet stuff but I try to constantly weave in heartwarming moments in my writing. Very welcome to all comments, suggestions, feedback, and requests. What kinds of adventures do you want to see these young families go on?


	4. Back Home: Showki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the playdate, Hyunwoo, Kihyun, and Changkyun head off home. As Changkyun nods off into dreamland Hyunwoo and Kihyun indulge in each other's company and reflect on their day.
> 
> a/n: This is chapter is mostly pretty fluffy but it gets kinda hot at the end(?) Nothing is mentioned explicitly but there is a lot of suggestion and innuendo if you are uncomfortable with that either give this chapter a skip or stop reading when it gets too much.

When they finally rolls up into the garage of their apartment building it was close to 3pm and Changkyun was fast asleep in his booster seat in the back. As the metel vehicle’s engine hummed to a stop Kihyun let out a soft sigh.

“What’s on your mind babe?” Hyunwoo asks curiosity piqued by the sigh.

“Let’s talk about it when we get up, I don’t want to wake Kyunnie up.” With that Kihyun exits the car and proceeds to gingerly remove Changkyun from his booster seat. His son was a terribly light sleeper, so moving him anywhere when he was in slumber was more akin to moving a time bomb. One wrong move and the toddler will wake up, shrieking to notify the whole neighborhood of his annoyance. Thankfully, perhaps it was the tiring playdate today was one of the rare occasions where Changkyun was completely knocked out. Still his parents took extra precaution not to wake him up.

Once they return home, Kihyun carefully sets Changkyun down in his crib, laying a soft blanket over him and placing his favorite wolf toy within grabbing reach. Almost instinctively, Changkyun stirs a little at the change in position and snuggles up with KkungKkung (the wolf toy). Kihyun holds his breath nervous that Changkyun might wake up, but to his relief, his son’s breath steadies and he goes deeper into dreamland. Checking the clock, it was 3.15pm, he probably could let the toddler nap for an hour, otherwise, this little terror was going to keep his parents up all night long. 

Satisfied with a job well done, Kihyun leaves the nursery and proceeds to the master bedroom. When he enters he sees his husband’s clothes roughly tossed on the bed, no husband to be found. Hyunwoo probably changed into comfortable clothes and was already in the living room. Letting out a light groan Kihyun changes into his sweats, and tosses his clothes along with Hyunwoo’s into the laundry basket in the bathroom. As much as he loved his husband, Hyunwoo’s careless messy ways got on his nerves sometimes.

As he heads into the living room, he could hear soft sounds coming from the television, Hyunwoo was probably watching the afternoon news. When he arrives, Bingo. His husband lay there sunken into the couch in mismatched sweats he probably just grabbed at the top of the drawer, glasses to correct his terrible eye sight, lazily watching the announcers on the screen as they discussed weekend updates about the market. Objectively speaking, there was nothing attractive about this scene, but it still caused Kihyun’s little heart to swell with affection. God he loved this man.

“Anything interesting?” Kihyun asks as he heads into the kitchen to grab glasses of water for himself and his husband.

“I was hoping you could tell me, I don’t understand these things like you do,” Hyunwoo chuckles as he tries to make sense of the graphs squiggled on the screen. Despite not being good with numbers, Hyunwoo tries to keep pay attention to market changes and stocks just so he can understand a part of what Kihyun does on the daily a little better. Dance and consulting weren’t exactly in the same field, so Hyunwoo made extra effort to understand Kihyun’s world a little even if it was hard for him. 

Kihyun appreciated the effort, and he hands over Hyunwoo’s glass while taking a quick glance at the familiar graphs on the screen and speeding numbers. “Hmmm looks like Samsung isn’t doing too good in it’s IP war with Apple. I better check if we have any stocks invested in them.” Kihyun managed the household finances, it was an obvious choice, and to be frank Hyunwoo was happy to not have to decipher the confusing world of interest rates, loans, and banks. 

After making a quick note on his work notepad on the coffee table Kihyun settles into his usual position, leaning against Hyunwoo’s firm biceps, snuggled up against his broad shoulders. Parenting was tough. With their demanding jobs, and even more demanding two-year-old who was starting to develop a jealous streak towards his parents’ private displays of affection, Kihyun and Hyunwoo rarely had time for themselves. Sure they would cuddle in bed, sometimes if they had the energy they would maybe make out and whisper sweet nothings, but usually it straight off to dreamland after a quick good night kiss. Today was a rare treat, Changkyun was knocked out and Kihyun and Hyunwoo didn’t have to rush to do anything. The pair just sat there in warm silence sipping at their water, and listening to the announcer drone on about recent developments in North and South Korean politics, more current affairs from around the world, the next big celebrity scandal. Naturally, Kihyun leaned in on Hyunwoo’s shoulder, breathing in his husband’s natural musk. God he loved this man.

When Kihyun did that Hyunwoo instinctively drew his arm closer, pulling the smaller man closer to his body. He listened to Kihyun’s soft and steady breaths, tried not to reach to his soft fluffy hair grazing his neck, and lightly rubbed Kihyun’s upper arm affectionately. Hyunwoo’s mind couldn’t help but recall when they used to live in the country, he and Kihyun would laze around like this all day. Back then they had a house, so when the weather was good they would have little picnics in their backyard, soaking in the sun, and relishing in these quiet moments where they felt like they were the only ones on the Earth, and the world was built perfectly for them. Hyunwoo loved the city, he knew his whole family was happier being a part of this bustling concrete jungle, but a part of him missed the simplicity of country life. Being with the man he loved more than anything, along with their little bundle of joy.

They stay like this for a few more minutes as the news rounds up its final reports. Hyunwoo was the first to break the silence, “So, what’s on your mind Kiki?” referring to the sigh his husband had let our earlier in the car.

Blushing slightly at the childish nickname Kihyun replies, “Nothing, just thinking about how amazing Minhyun and Dongho are. I mean they’ve got successful careers, a beautiful kid, and are brilliant parents. Did you see how they reacted to Changkyun chomping down on their son? I don’t have the confidence that I could have reacted as calmly as them. Not to mention they’re both so handsome too.”

“More than me?” Hyunwoo teases as he meekly shows off his muscles causing Kihyun to chuckle.

“Hmmmmm maybe? I mean those tattoos on Dongho’s pale skin, hooooof what a concept,” Kihyun pretends to fan himself as if he was hot and bothered by the image of the younger father.

“Maybe I should tattoo ‘Property of Kihyun’ here then,” Hyunwoo motions to his right bicep where Dongho bore his own tattoo.

“A flattering choice, but I’m not into tramp stamping you.”

“Or maybe I should get ‘Property of Hyunwoo’ tattooed on you so you can never escape from me,” Hyunwoo teases as he nuzzles into Kihyun’s neck peppering light kisses onto his husband.

“Ewww who wants to be your property? Hehehhe stop that tickles,” Kihyun weakly attempts to push his bulky husband off. 

“You’ll always be mine Yoo Kihyun, don’t ever forget that,” Hyunwoo lets out a playful growl as he nips at Kihyun’s neck leaving flushed pink marks behind. 

“Of course my bear, I will always be yours,” Kihyun shifts his hands to hold onto Hyunwoo’s face making their eyes meet. He pulls in the larger man’s face a little closer and meets them halfway. Both men let out soft moans as they kissed, deeply. Tongues dancing in each other’s mouths it has been months since they felt like this, this close, this intimate, this uninterrupted. 

Eventually, they break apart, gasping for air, shining eyes staring deep into each other’s soul. They burned for each other with a passion. For a few seconds, the couple stayed like this, communicating softly with their eyes, affirming their love in a steady silence. 

Hyunwoo hoists his husband back into a sitting position, and they returned to their previous position. Going back to topic Hyunwoo remarks, “They are pretty amazing, aren’t they. I would have sworn to God that Dongho was going to whoop my ass and they would never want to see us again.”

“I know right, I thought a mother bear was going to pounce out of Minhyun despite how calm he looks. I mean I get it when your child is hurting all you would want to do is destroy the cause of it.”

“Dongho actually said something really interesting to me when we were watching the boys,” Hyunwoo recalls.

“What?” Kihyun looks up inquisitively.

“You remember those princesses dresses the boys wore?”

Kihyun nods affirming the memory.

“Well, I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but Dongho agreed to it pretty casually. He said it didn’t matter what his kid liked, whether it was traditionally feminine or masculine, as long as he was happy. I mean, I know it doesn’t sound much but when I was growing up boys and girls were always shamed for liking things commonly associated with the opposite gender. So, hearing him say that was… shocking,” Hyunwoo recounts the conversation to Kihyun.

Kihyun paused taking in this information. “Huh, that’s interesting.”

“I know right. But when he said it it made so much sense, and I felt… bad. Kyunnie looked so happy in his purple dress, and I was going to deny him of that. I felt like such an unqualified father in that moment,” Hyunwoo sighed hanging his head.

“There there big bear, don’t be sad. You’re a great father, the only one I would want to father and raise my children. Just because you didn’t know how to react in a ‘modern’ way in one moment doesn’t make you less qualified to be a father.” KIhyun knew Hyunwoo had the tendency to undermine his own competencies. When he married Kihyun he felt bad that Kihyun earned more than he did, and he couldn’t be the sole bread winner his family had brought him up to aspire to. When Changkyun was born, he felt bad for not being the one Changkyun looked for for comfort, determining that his own child hated him. And he has always felt insecure about not being as smart as Kihyun, fearing that his incompetence would be inherited by his children. Kihyun thought all of that was bullshit, but he couldn’t stop his husband from thinking that sometimes.

Kihyun tries to comfort Hyunwoo by stroking his gently stroking his thigh, conveying his love for him with every touch. Still, Hyunwoo was in a certain headspace and it was hard to get out, “Kihyun you don’t get it. I’m not smart like you, I was raised in a really traditional family, and I know not all traditional mindsets are bad, but that one thing was going to make Kyunnie unhappy. Why can’t I be like Dongho, why can’t I be like Minhyun they’re so wise, and so young too. What the hell was I even doing at 25”

Hyunwoo was cut off my Kihyun planting a soft kiss on his lips. When Kihyun pulled away Hyunwoo looked at him confused, “Picked up something useful from that idiot lovey dovey couple haha. Babe, I married Son Hyunwoo not Kang Dongho nor Hwang Minhyun, if I didn’t love you for who you were, or trusted that you could be a good father to our children I wouldn’t have let you put a ring on this damn finger and knock me up with your offspring.”

Hyunwoo chuckles a little flattered by Kihyun’s implied confession. Kihyun continues, “Hyunwoo, we’re all learning how to be parents. We aren’t perfect, and we are never going to be perfect. Sure, the Kang-Hwangs might have a certain philosophy different from ours but that doesn’t make us inferior parents. Look at Changkyun, he’s happy, he’s healthy, and most importantly he’s loved. If there is something we want to learn from the Kang-Hwangs we’ll do it, it’s all about growing with our child and navigating this journey of parenthood. Most importantly, it’s about navigating it together. Don’t you trust me?” KIhyun holds onto Hyunwoo’s hands and rubs his calloused knuckles.

“Of course I trust you. I love you,” Hyunwoo confesses as he brings his husband's hands to his lips planting light romantic kisses on them. Hyunwoo knew he wasn’t perfect, but Kihyun had a way of quelling his insecurities and making him feel enough. Enough for himself, enough for his husband, enough for his family. He felt his heart swell with love as he pulled Kihyun in for another round of deep loving kisses. 

The combination of Hyunwoo’s soft lips and rough tongue sent stars in Kihyun’s mind. God he loved this man. In those moments all he could feel was his husband, his awareness of his surrounding became a blur and all his senses heightened to feel everything about Hyunwoo. The attacks by Hyunwoo’s tongue, the pressure of Hyunwoo’s hand behind his neck pulling him closer, Hyunwoo’s legs entangling the couple further in their messy affair.

Fuck those public displays of affection, these moments were way better and way hotter. Kihyun thought tossing away his initial jealousy of Minhyun and Dongho earlier today. 

Hyunwoo broke the kiss first this time, to catch his breath and also admire the beautiful man that now loomed above him. Kihyun’s soft supple skin, fluffy silver hair that changed color in the light, the glowing smile his husband was casting on him. He was his everything.

“What you looking at you bear?” Kihyun chuckles.

“The most beautiful man in the world, who I get the honor of calling my husband,” Hyunwoo replies in a heartbeat, sending waves of pink up Kihyun’s cheeks and ears. Who said Hyunwoo couldn’t be romantic?

“You called me a fool earlier today,” Kihyun pretends to pout.

“You are a fool, but I am a fool for you,” once again Kihyun’s cheeks begin to burn from his husband’s effortless pillow talk. 

“Stop you’re being embarrassing,” Kihyun tries to pull away to hide his glowing red cheeks.

Hyunwoo doesn’t let go and instead pulls him down to lay on his chest. “There’s no one here but us though?” There is a slight suggestion in his voice which made Kihyun feel a certain way a little past his waist. He feels his whole body tensing up and blushing at his husband’s words.

Hyunwoo senses the change in Kihyun’s body and snickers to himself, he had his ways of riling up his husband as no one else could. “You know there are more ways to permanently mark someone’s body besides a tattoo,” Hyunwoo whispers in Kihyun’s ear which is now a bright fire-engine red. 

“It’s in the middle of the day…” Kihyun whimpers out trying to hold on to his rationality.

“Changkyun’s asleep, you don’t need to start making dinner for at least another hour,” Hyunwoo tried to reason. 

Kihyun doesn’t reply, only giving a subtle nod at the suggestion. 

Smiling to himself, Hyunwoo picks up the smaller man princess style and heads towards their shared master bedroom. As he carries him, Hyunwoo whispers into Kihyun’s ear, “I love you.”

Part embarrassed but anticipating Kihyun squeaks, “I love you too.” And they disappear into their room, praying that Changkyun spends a little more time in nap land than usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi There!
> 
> Hoof another chapter out. Hope y'all like it! Do let me know if you have any comments, suggestions, feedback and/or requests. One of my first attempts are a little more suggestive writing, very open to feedback! Thank you~


	5. Back Home: Baekmin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We saw the Son-Yoo family, now let's check out what happens to the Kang-Hwang's when they get home.

Just as Hyunwoo and Kihyun rolled up to their apartment, so did Dongho and Minhyun. Minki was a little fussier, refusing to sleep most of the car ride home, but by the time the family car had eased into their usual parking spot the toddler was out like a light, holding onto his favorite pink blanket Minhyun had packed. Dongho swung round the back to retrieve Minhyun’s over-packed diaper bag, while Minhyun carefully removed Minki from the car seat. Minki stirred a little when he was picked up, but soon settled naturally into Minhyun’s shoulder as the family headed to the elevator to return to their apartment home. 

Once they reached, Minhyun headed off to the nursery to set Minki down into his crib. With one hand still holding onto his son, he flicks the light switch of the Minki’s room. As the lights came on to reveal the soft pink and blue room that was dedicated to the two-year old, Minhyun let out a soft sigh at the mess he saw at his feet. It wasn’t much, just a few diapers on the ground, and the carpet was slightly crooked but even that was enough to trigger a wave of irritation in Minhyun’s mind. He hated messiness, marrying Dongho was a miracle considering how laid back that man was, but I guess Minhyun loved him more than he hated Dongho’s less satisfactory habits. 

Carefully Minhyun sets Minki into his crib, tucking him in in his blanket and selecting one of his favorite dolls to be within grabbing reach. Minki was absolutely spoiled, by both parents. He wasn’t a brat or obnoxious because Dongho and Minhyun made it a point to raise Minki with an awareness of limits and boundaries, but that didn’t stop the parents from buying Minki copious amounts of toys just to make their son happy. They would constantly argue about who was spoiling him more, but in reality, they were both fools for their son. After some careful consideration, Minhyun selects a turquoise doll named Cindy and sets it by Minki, it was one of the dolls he bought. It was almost like Minki could sense the presence of the doll when he instinctively reached over and began cuddling into it. Minhyun chuckled at how adorable his son was. 

He could stare at his son all day but Minhyun knew it would be terribly unproductive. So he plants a light peck into Minki’s soft black hair and proceeds to tidy up the nursery. He swiftly tucks the diapers into their drawer and straightens up the carpet. He wanted to reach for the vacuum but realized that that would 200% wake up his son. He lightly slaps his thigh muttering under his breath, “Aish, you forgot again. Old habits die hard.”

It wasn’t that Minhyun forgot he had a son; he just had the bad habit of slipping into a certain head space where his actions were guided more by habit than logic. Growing up he was an absolute neat freak, always arranging and cleaning things immediately after he spots any speckle of mess. His obsession never bothered people because he had always been around people who were older than him or were his peers, so naturally they kind of let Minhyun do what he did. Ever since, having Minki Minhyun has had to hold back his go-getter cleaning habit exactly because of moments like these. There were countless times when Minhyun would accidentally wake up a napping Minki because he had decided to vacuum a room out of habit and his compulsion to clean. This usually was followed by 30minutes of wails from the baby who had been shocked awake by the roar of a vacuum cleaner, causing Minhyun to be overwhelmed with guilt as he would apologize and try to soothe his son back to sleep. 

Sighing at himself, and at the half-completed job in the nursery, Minhyun flicks off the switch and heads off to the master bedroom to change out of his clothes. When he comes out in Dongho’s sweater and a pair of basketball shorts he could hear a light sizzle coming from the kitchen. Minhyun always liked wearing Dongho’s shirts and sweaters, they were big, soft, comfy, and most importantly smelled like his husband. Minhyun follows the sound of the sizzles and leans against the door frame of the kitchen door. He stands there admiring the figure before him, a focused Dongho with his broad shoulders in an old band tee frying away at some eggs. Minhyun observes quietly recalling one of the books he read about love and affection, linking this image of his husband with everything that book said. Dongho was his inspiration, his motivation, his everything. 

Minhyun approaches Dongho from behind and carefully snakes his arms around the broader man’s waist. Minhyun was taller than Dongho, which I guess would be odd considering that he was the mother in the family, but he thought it was perfect. He gingerly leans down and sets his chin on Dongho’s shoulder, cushioned by the taut muscles as he breathed in the scents around him: a mixture of Dongho’s natural musk and the delicious smell of grilled kimchi and eggs.

“What’cha making?” Minhyun asks.

“Just experimenting with some stuff,” Dongho replies as he swiftly maneuvers around the kitchen with Minhyun in tow. “Want some?”

Minhyun nods and parts his lips to welcome the incoming treat. 

Never missing a chance to tease his husband, Dongho sticks a pair of empty chopsticks in Minhyun’s mouth leading to a yelp from the taller man when he tasted wood instead of eggs. “Hehehehe,” Dongho giggles.

“You’re so mean, c’mon give me a little bit of those eggs.”

“Ooojujuju there you go baby,” Dongho cooed as he feeds Minhyun a combination of scrambled eggs and grilled kimchi. 

“Mmmmm,” Minhyun hums in approval, earning some satisfied chuckled from his husband. Dongho deftly turns off the fire, plates their little snack and heads off to the living room. Minhyun unwillingly detaches from his husband as he got out some cups and poured some barley tea to go with the snack his husband had made and followed him to their couch. 

Placing the eggs and chopsticks on the coffee table, Dongho flops onto the couch and turns on the television. He flips through the channels until he arrives at a music program that is playing, and he begins intently watching and listening to the performances. Dongho always made it a point to try and keep up with the latest music trends both in Kpop and overseas, he wanted to be on top of them, and also figure out how he could be ahead of the curve in his producing. 

Minhyun follows behind him and sets their drinks next to the snack and sits down on the floor by Dongho’s legs. He didn’t like pop music much, preferring the soothing tunes of ballads, and classical music because it helped him clear his head that was always full of thoughts, but he understood that Dongho needed to listen to this for his job. Minhyun peers up to look at his husband’s brows furrowing in concentration and leans to rest his head on Dongho’s knees, while mindlessly feeding himself more kimchi-egg scramble (it was honestly pretty unexpectedly tasty).

As Dongho played with his soft brown hair Minhyun sighs, “You were really cool today.”

“Hmm?” Dongho snaps back from listening to the music show.

“I said, you were really cool today.”

“What’cha talking about, I’m always cool,” Dongho smirks as he continues playing with Minhyun’s hair giving his husband a little scalp massage.

“Yes, yes you are, but you were especially cool today with how you handled Changkyun biting Minki. You have a way with that kid, if I tried, he probably would have never calmed down,” Minhyun relaxed into Dongho’s touch.

“Nonsense, Minki listens to you way better than he listens to me, you spend so much more time with him,” Dongho remarks feeling a pang of guilt from having the erratic work schedule he did. “I guess I wanted to seem like good parents in front of Kihyun hyung and Hyunwoo hyung, we are so much younger than them after all. Didn’t want them to think that we are raising Minki carelessly.”

“I know, I know. I have been insecure about that for a while too. They’re so cool, all grown up, good jobs, they actually planned their life out. Meanwhile, one impulsive night and we landed ourselves in this whole parenting thing.”

Sensing Minhyun’s anxiety, Dongho hoisted his husband up to sit next to him on the couch and stared deep into his eyes. ‘Do you regret it? This life?”

“No! Never! I love you, and I love Minki. I’ve always known that I wanted to spend my life with you, have kids with you, grow old together. But I guess, I wish we had more time where it was just the two of us,” Minhyun sighs. 

The day Minhyun found out he was pregnant was a day of mixed emotions. On one hand, he was shocked that he had gotten pregnant out of wedlock. He and Dongho had talked about having kids and getting married but that was way in their future, furthermore, he had been on the right contraceptives at the time. Sure, Dongho kinda forgot a condom but the pill should have been enough: it wasn’t. At the same time, he felt this inexplicit joy and excitement, that there was a product of his and Dongho’s love growing in his body. When Dongho found out he was ecstatic, and both pairs of parents were incredibly supportive of the young couple. Still, amid all the joy and happiness Minhyun felt a sense of regret, just like that in nine months’ time, his and Dongho’s couple life was going to end. What lay ahead was not a life where they lived for each other, but one where they lived for this child: was he ready for it? Well, he didn’t have a choice, he had to be. 

“Awwwwww baby, come here,” Dongho’s eyes crinkle into crescent moons and he pulls the taller man’s body onto his as he lays down on the couch. Craddling Minhyun’s head Dongho speaks in his characteristically gentle voice, “I know babe, I know. I miss when it was just the two of us too. When we could sleep as late as we wanted, go on random midnight movie and cycling dates, when we drop everything at a moment’s notice and hop on the next available flight.”

A surge of memories of when they were dating flood into Minhyun’s mind and he feels tears wallowing up in his eyes. Oh, he missed being a couple with Dongho.

“But ever since you brough Minki into my life my happiness has only grown. I can never have a bad day knowing that I have a beautiful husband and adorable kid waiting for me back home. Yea, we can’t exactly do what we used to do, but with a few modifications we can still sleep in, go on movie and park dates, and travel anywhere we want. Remember back when we were dating, when I had those depressive episodes?”

Minhyun nods into Dongho’s chest.

“Well, ever since we got married and Minki came into our little lives I’ve never felt that monster come out again. All I feel is joy, and happiness and contentment. You guys have inspired my music and given me a purpose. I know parenting is hard babe, but to me, this is the greatest gift to have ever descended upon my uncultured hands. I don’t deserve you guys, and yet you are both in my life. Given a choice I’ll live through this all over again with you by my side, my little Emperor Hwang Minhyun.”

Minhyun was full out whimpering at this point, not out of sadness but because he was overwhelmed by Dongho’s declaration of love for him and this family. “*sniff sniff* yea *sniff sniff sniff* I love you. And I love our little bundle *sniff* I love you guys so so much *sniff* y’all are the reason I live *sniff* the reason I go to work everyday *sniff* the reason why I want to become a better person.”

“Awwww baby don’t cry, don’t cry. You’ll dry up like a prune and become ugly if you cry too much,” Dongho teased while patting the back of his husband’s neck.

Minhyun raises his head making eye contact with the man beneath him through tearful eyes. He hits him lightly on the chest, “Shut up, so what if I become ugly.”

“Then you’ll become my little ugly of course,” Dongho smiles and pulls Minhyun in for a kiss. The couple close their eyes and let their bodies and emotions melt into each other. Tongues dancing, lips fluttering they share a kiss they have not had in months now. Minhyun moans lightly into Dongho’s lips earning a smile from his husband.

“Did you like that you pervert?” Dongho grins when they pull apart momentarily.

“You’re the pervert for playing with my ass cheeks during that kiss, don’t think I didn’t notice,” Minhyun retorts, lighting slapping Dongho’s hands who were indeed on the apples of his butt.

“They’re just so soft, I couldn’t help it. It anchors me,” Dongho playfully pouts.

“You’re gross,” Minhyun giggles as he goes in for another kiss.

“You’re disgusting,” Dongho chuckles back, accepting it happily.

The couple continue making out on their couch, oblivious to the television which had switched programs, and the day that was going by. Dongho kneads into Minhyun’s bum while Minhyun pulls and tugs at his husband’s hair. They squirm and wriggle on the couch for what feels like forever until a tiny voice speaks, “Mommy?”

Dongho and Minhyun were immediately pulled back from their perverse fantasies, pushing each other off in a rush. Panting they look around for the source of the voice, only to find Minki standing by the hallway, clutching onto this Cindy doll, rubbing his eyes sleepily. 

Minhyun gets up off Dongho and heads towards their son, “Ye… yes baby? Why did you wake up so soon, are you still sleepy?”

“Minki dream… Minki dream about big wolf monster. Wolf monster biting on everything and hit buildings. Minki with Cindy, Minki was hero. But Minki too weak, so Minki lose. Minki scared so Minki wake up,” the toddler sniffles, making grabby hands to be picked up. 

Holy crap is he traumatized by that bite? Dongho thinks to himself as he watches Minhyun pick up the two-year-old, bringing him to the couch by his side. 

“Ooo my baby got scared huh?” Minhyun comforts, and Minki nods into his mother’s chest, still clutching onto the turquoise doll. “It’s okay baby, mommy and daddy will always be here to protect you. If you ever get scared always look for mommy and daddy.”

“Pwomise?” Minki looks up with big shiny eyes.

“Of course baby,” Minhyun plants a light kiss on Minki’s forehead, and Dongho pats his fluffy black hair.

Dongho engulfs his husband and son in a tiger hug and assures, “Mommy and daddy will always be here for you baby. Always.”

The happy family sits in this cuddled bundle, just like how they should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi There!
> 
> Here is another update. I just realized AO3 doesn't really have a lot of Baekmin fanfics which makes me so sad :((( they are my NU'EST OTP. I'm not sure if most of y'all reading this are ShowKi shippers but lemme tell you Baekmin give such similar vibes, if y'all have time please check out the collab stage at the 2019 MBC Gayo Daejun I've linked below. If you are a Baekmin shipper reading this, same thing, ShowKi's vibes are literally the same! Okay, sorry this note is kinda long cause I'm tired. Anyway, I really appreciate all the support, kudos, comments and readership. Please feel free to leave any comments, suggestions, feedback and requests. I'm gonna try to think of more cute adventures these couples can go on, 
> 
> Oh right, btw, I kind of wanted to let this chapter flesh out Minhyun and Dongho a little more. I know I've written them almost like the perfect couple so far, the only fault (to some people's perception) might have been that they are a very young couple. Clearly they ain't perfect, and they are insecure too. At the end of the day, everyone is insecure af in this story which is why you need friends haha. Okay, I'll stop. Hope y'all enjoyed it!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnNh1uFH9hA


	6. The Consultant Needs to Do Some Consulting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kihyun has a new client trying to publish... self-help books? What happens when the consultant is stumped by a client's request? *hint* a little philosophy professor can help.
> 
> a/n: Hongdae is not referring to the funky neighborhood but the shortened name of Hongik University which the neighborhood is named after.

“Why the sigh Kihyun-sshi?” Jonghyun asks as he hears the older man let out the third sigh since he stepped into the kindergarten 5 minutes ago.

Kihyun jolts a little at the question not realizing that he had fallen deep into his thoughts and unknowingly let out huge sighs in the process. It was his turn to pick up Changkyun from school, but he had been so occupied with his thoughts that he didn’t even realize he had arrived in the waiting area of the kindergarten.

“Oh, sorry, could you repeat your question?” Kihyun replies apologetically in a daze, he wasn’t usually like this.

“No worries, I was just wondering what was on your mind Kihyun-sshi, you seem rather stressed with all the sighing and stuff,” Jonghyun repeats his question kindly as he gives his students their final hugs as they return to their parents.

“It’s nothing much, just some work stuff. This new client of mine has a particularly difficult request this time and I don’t know how to approach it,” Kihyun sighs massaging his temples recalling the stressful meeting he had in the morning when the proposal/request was brought up to him.

“Do you want to talk about it? I know I’m just a kindergarten teacher, and I don’t know much about finance and consulting, but maybe talking it out will help?” Jonghyun offered. Jonghyun was truly a dear, similar to Minhyuk he had developed somewhat of a friendship with both the Son-Yoos and Kang-Hwangs, admittedly he was a little closer to the Kang-Hwangs, but his loveable personality meant he bonded quickly with both families. He always had the right words to comfort a crying child or give timely advice to parents who had parenting concerns. A favorite among parents and his students Jonghyun was one of the best teachers the city had to offer, he was even able to break into Changkyun’s grumpy soul, leading to the toddler bringing up his beloved teacher more than once at dinner time with his parents. 

Kihyun smiles fondly at Jonghyun resisting the temptation to pat the younger man’s fluffy hair and says, “Haha, thank you for the offer. Yea maybe I could hear some of your thoughts. Kyunnie is still in there playing with clay right?”

Jonghyun stretches his neck peer into the classroom to check and gives an affirmative nod. He brings over some adult-sized chairs for Kihyun and himself and they both take a seat behind the main counter.

“So, I recently signed a contract with a broadcasting company, and they are thinking of breaking into the publishing industry. The problem is, they want to start off by publishing self-help books, which I have one, never read in my life, and two, have no knowledge of. I was pretty stunned when they brought up the request at our meeting today, and I’ve been trying to research more about the self-help industry but I’m getting nowhere. I got the industry statistics, but I can’t tell what the trends are, who are the most popular writers, what are the most popular themes. The client wants a proposal by the end of the week and I am hard-pressed man,” Kihyun sighs for the fourth time.

Jonghyun nods empathetically, truth be told he didn’t understand most of what Kihyun just said, but the older man seemed to have attained some sort of relief from ranting a little so Jonghyun was happy. “Have you had any past clients in this industry?” Jonghyun asks.

Kihyun shakes his head, “No, never. I’ve been a consultant to media groups before, but publishing is a real niche, self-help even more so. I have friends who specialize in the industry but even they couldn’t help much with the genre.”

“Have you tried talking to Minhyun about this? He’s a professor, after all, philosophy one no less. He’s probably read at least some of these books, also Hongdae has a huge university library, maybe you could use it to help with your research?” Jonghyun suggests, perking up at the idea he had. 

Now that was an idea Kihyun didn’t think of. Jonghyun had a way of looking at problems and coming up with the most unique suggestions that seem so obvious. “Huh, asking Minhyun, that’s an idea. I think I’ll give it a shot, thanks Jonghyun! Kyunnie baby!” 

Changkyun dashes into Kihyun’s open arms yelling, “Mommy!!!” Minhyuk chuckled as trailed Changkyun with the toddler’s jacket in hand.

“Thanks for the suggestion Jonghyun. Kyunnie says bye-bye to Jonghyun and Minhyuk,” Kihyun thanks and heads out, after receiving the jacket from Minhyuk.

“What were you guys talking about?” Minhyuk asks his co-worker as he waves the parent-child duo goodbye.

“Kihyun-sshi had some worries about work so I have him a suggestion,” Jonghyun replies greeting other parents coming through the door.

“OOOOOOOO looks at our little Jonghyunnie being a consultant to the consultant,” Minhyuk jiggles his shoulders playfully to tease the younger teacher.

“Hahahaha I wish I had that ability hyung, I’m just a kindergarten teacher.”

“And you’re the best that we’ve got,” Minhyuk places a quick peck on Jonghyun’s cheek and returns to the classroom to fetch the children whose parents had arrived to pick them up.

\---

Kihyun finally got around to texting Minhyun for the favor after putting Changkyun to bed. To his pleasant surprise, Minhyun was enthused at the opportunity to help Kihyun out and he invited him to the university the next day. Satisfied with his little date set Kihyun snuggles into Hyunwoo’s chest as the couple settles in to watch the 10.30 pm news.

“You look happy, something good happened today?” Hyunwoo asks as he rubs Kihyun’s side softly.

“Hehe, I’ve got a date with a certain Hwang Minhyun tomorrow,” Kihyun chuckles.

“Huh?” Hyunwoo looks over at Kihyun confused.

“I’m going over to Hongdae to talk to him about this new contract, remember the one about books? I was really stumped but Jonghyun suggested that I reached out to Minhyun since he was far more into that world that I am,” Kihyun explains.

“Ahhhh, well try not to stand out among the youngsters,” Hyunwoo teases earning a jab to the side from his disgruntled husband.

“Says the one who works with teenagers on a daily,” Kihyun retorts.

“I never said I wasn’t an old man with them, I’m just saying you should try to blend in more,” another job this time to the chest. Hyunwoo giggle at his husband’s little attacks and Kihyun continues to relentlessly play fight his old bear like a little hamster. Eventually, the couple tires of their games and return to their room to turn in for the night.  
\---   
*the next day*

After a quick breakfast, some preliminary work, and going through his morning emails Kihyun was ready to go. He opted for a casual button-up, black jeans, and Vans to simulate the college vibe. Honestly, despite being a consultant Kihyun’s wardrobe was pretty casual. Since he was a freelancer that worked out of his home most of the time there really wasn’t a need for him to have particularly nice or formal clothes. He, of course, had a few nice suits he reserved for client meetings and formal events. But, most of the time he would spend his entire day in one of Hyunwoo’s old sweaters, or an oversized t-shirt cause it was just way more comfortable than a shirt or a suit.

Stuffing his files and laptop into a backpack he was off. If you looked by too quickly Kihyun would have passed off as a pretty convincing college student. He opted to take the subway to Hongik University to avoid the terrible traffic and horrendous parking fees, also because it allowed him to relive his college days when he used to go to university in Seoul. When he got onto the Hongdae campus a bright smile unconsciously spread across his face, it has been years since he has been on a college campus, but something about being on one in this very moment created waves of nostalgia. Hongdae was not his alma mater, but he could feel the energy and youthfulness of the campus, and his memories came to life. He looks over at the large grass patches where students relaxed and recalled the picnic dates, he would have with Hyunwoo. He passes by the track where athletes were training, and he recalls how he unceremoniously faceplanted into the ground during his first inter-faculty track meet. He smells the familiar scents of college foods wafting from the cafeteria and the image of him and his friends stumbling in at 2am pissed drunk after a night of partying looking for some fish cake and tteokbokki to cure their hunger makes him chuckle. 

Ahhhh it must be so nice to be young, Kihyun thinks as he weaves through the college roads in search of the philosophy faculty building. With the help of some students, Kihyun soon found himself lounging in the waiting area of the main faculty office, admiring the bonsai plants and various calligraphy pieces adorning the room Kihyun definitely felt like he was in the philosophy department. He flips open his laptop, typing away choosing to get some work done while waiting for Minhyun, the younger man had texted him a couple minutes prior apologizing that he was going to be a couple of minutes late since his students had a lot of questions after class. After a couple of minutes of reviewing his work Kihyun’s ears perk as he notices a flurry of footsteps and voices approaching his direction.

“Professor Hwang, about my essay, do you have time to look through it I would really appreciate it,” a girl says.

“Professor Hwang, Professor Hwang about this week’s assignment…” another girl.

“Professor Hwang, do you want to get lunch with us?” yet another girl’s voice.

“Professor Hwang, when are you going to bring Minki to class again?” another girl’s voice cuts through. 

The chorus of girls’ voices blends into one another overlapping and interrupting piquing Kihyun’s curiosity. He raises his head to see a hurried Minhyun trying his best to answering all their questions with a polite smile while approaching the faculty office. Something about his demeanor let Kihyun know that Minhyun was pretty uncomfortable in this situation. Once Minhyun spots Kihyun through the glass door his eyes sparkle to life and he says to the girls, “Ladies, I have a meeting right now so feel free to email me any questions you have in relation to the material we covered or anything else about class. Mina, I will look through your essay and return my comments via email as soon as I can. Alright? Okay, have a great rest of your day.” Minhyun flashes a sweet smile and slips into the faculty office, leaving his fangirls on the other side of the door. 

Once inside the office, Minhyun beckons for Kihyun to follow him, evidently unwilling to stay in view of the female students who were still crowded by the glass door. Kihyun quickly picked up his things and followed behind the lanky professor. Once the pair turn into Minhyun’s office, the professor let out an audible sigh as he finally greets Kihyun, “Sorry about that Kihyun-hyung, my students were particularly persistent today. I hope you were not waiting for long.”

Minhyun gestures for Kihyun to sit in one of the couches, and Kihyun sits down while admiring the small but quaint office. It wasn’t large but it was decorated in an exquisite manner. Aligning one wall were some dark wooden bookcases stuffed with manuscripts and books, evidently material Minhyun used for his work. There was a long wooden table in the opposite corner where stacks of essays, more books, two large monitors, and a keyboard. Tucked into the table was a cushiony office chair made of black pleather. What caught Kihyun’s attention the most were the pictures that adorned the wall behind the desk and chair, it was a collage of family photos. There were pictures of Minhyun, his family, Dongho, Minki, and right smack in the middle was a soft image of Dongho lying lovingly on Minhyun’s tummy, both men in pastel sweaters looking absolutely heavenly and in love. 

“It’s alright, I wasn’t waiting for long. You seem to have quite a fanclub,” Kihyun chuckles.

“Haha,” Minhyun awkwardly laughs as he reaches out to his kettle to boil some water, “tea?”

“Sure, thank you.”

“When I first got the acceptance letter from Hongdae, Dongho teased me that I was going to become my students’ favorite professor, and I had to get ready to be bombarded. I didn’t believe him then, but literally within a month of me being on the job and teaching classes, there would be a constant stream of students suddenly wanting to meet me: even those who were not philosophy majors nor taking my classes. I’ve tried hinting at them that I’m married, even flashing this wedding band as often as I can in class,” Minhyun raises his left hand dramatically drawing attention to the thin silver band on his ring finger. “I even brought Minki to class once, wanted to show like ‘I’m an old man with a kid and a husband’, but the rumor mill of college campuses can be savage. Apparently, people think I’m a single father looking for a second wife now.” Minhyun sighs as he pours the boiling water over two teabags, and bringing the teacups to the small coffee table where Kihyun sat.

“You would think they would get that you are a family man, after seeing those photos, they are gorgeous by the way when did you take the one in the middle?” Kihyun chuckles as he points at the large centerpiece that caught his attention. 

“Yea hahah, college kids can be really persistent. Oh that one? It was our maternity shoot back when we still lived in Jeju. Dongho and I really like to take pictures to commemorate special events in our life, it’s one of the few things we splurge on. When we moved up to Seoul we didn’t have enough space to hang this in our new apartment, so I decided to take it with me to decorate my office. Dongho has a couple in his studio too,” Minhyun blushes recalling that lovely day.

“That’s so sweet. Hyunwoo and I have wedding photos, but we didn’t do a maternity shoot. We have a couple from Changkyun’s first birthday though, just some small ones. It’s really nice, it suits the vibe of your office really well,” Kihyun naturally admires the simple yet cozy office.

“Thank you,” Minhyun sheepishly replies flattered by the compliments Kihyun was showering upon him. “So, about your client, how can I help you?”

Kihyun takes a sip of his tea, “Ah right, so like I mentioned over text my client wants to break into the publishing business, but they want to start with self-help books. I was wondering if you are acquainted with the genre, have you noticed any trends, and also do you have any resources that can help guide my research in the industry?”

Minhyun furrows his brows in contemplation, he then gets up and heads over to his bookcase, picking out about half a dozen books. “Self-help books are kinda like philosophy books written for the layman so I have read a couple. My expertise is in ancient Korean philosophy, so I can’t guarantee that my observations are the most accurate, but these are some of the recent publications I’ve been reading in the genre.”

Minhyun lays down the books all colored in soft pastel tones. “Kwak Aron is probably one of the most popular self-help writers right now, I always see his books in bookstores, and they are always a best seller. Lee Minhyuk is another one that is very popular, he is a little newer to the scene, but his work is pretty profound. Chae Hyungwon is actually an anthropology professor at Ewha Womans University and he has a very interesting approach to his writing. I’ve met him a couple of times, pretty chill guy.”

Kihyun nods as Minhyun explains and introduces the books he had laid out. The consultant would flip through a couple of pages, gleaning through some of the main themes in the books.

“So, from what I can tell, many self-help books are focusing a lot more on spirituality nowadays. Spirituality not in the sense of religion, but just being in touch with one’s inner thoughts and being mindful in the way that we live. In the past, self-help books were almost a little materialistic? They often talked about upskilling, and how to get into the mindset of a successful business, etc. Now, however, the focus is a lot more on finding happiness and satisfaction in life. You can take these books home to read them further if you like,” Minhyun continues.

“Mmmm I see I see. Thank you it would help a lot for me to pour through these books a little more to understand the content,” Kihyun nods in understanding as he buries himself deeper into the book he had in hand. “Oh yea, by the way, does Hongdae have a library with information on self-help books?”

“Hmmmmm, I’m not entirely sure but our libraries are pretty well stocked so you probably could find something. They are only available to students and staff though. Tell you what, I can help you get access to the library, say you are a friend or something, it’s not exactly following university policy but I think this is pretty harmless. When you come by next time just give me a ring and I’ll scan you into the libraries,” Minhyun offers as he sips his tea.

“Really? Oh my goodness that will be amazing. I just need to submit a proposal in by Friday, so I won’t be loitering around too much I can promise you that,” Kihyun perks up.  
“Ahhh I see, then that works ours perfectly then. Yea just let me know when you are around and I’ll get you in there.”

“Thank you so much!”

“Hahhaa, no worries. By the way, have you had lunch yet, I’m starving right now.”

“I haven’t had lunch yet as well,” KIhyun replies rubbing his tummy being reminded of his hunger.

“Haha, cool, could I invite you to have lunch with me then, the tonkatsu is to die for,” Minhyun offers as he rises from his seat.

“That sounds good to me, some crispy fried pork goodness,” Kihyun replies as he gets up as well, following the taller man out of his office and off to the cafeteria.

The men bond over lunch, talking about their college days, more of Minhyun’s professor troubles, and Kihyun’s crazy client stories. After lunch, Minhyun had to rush off to his next class, and Kihyun similarly had to return home to make it to his next client call. The men part ways but promise to meet up soon, and indeed they did. After that day, Kihyun practically came by Hongdae every day, somedays sneak into the libraries for his client research, others just to enjoy the fresh air and public facilities so he could have a change of scenery to do his work. Throughout this time, Kihyun and Minhyun would always meet for lunch, chatting more, and getting to know each other even better. They share stories about their son’s antics, their husbands’ quirks, and everything else you could talk about under the sun. 

Just like that Friday rolled by, and Kihyun was sitting at his dining table wrapping up his proposal to his client. Getting access to the Hongdae library, and listing to Minhyun’s insights were extremely valuable and it helped him craft arguably one of the best proposals in his career. He sends it over to the client beaming with pride and raises his arms to stretch out the tension in his back and shoulders. Finally, the proposal was done, but Kihyun couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sadness. If the proposal submitted, there wasn’t much of a reason for him to go down to Hongdae anymore, he was really beginning to enjoy his little lunch dates with Minhyun and the general vibrancy of the college campus.  
With a slight sigh, Kihyun picks up his phone and dials Minhyun’s number.

The phone rings twice and it gets picked up. “Hello?”

“HI Minhyun, just wanted to let you know that I’ve sent in the proposal! Thank you so much for your help throughout the week on this,” Kihyun smiles as he expresses his sincerest gratitude to the professor.

“Hahaha, of course, anytime. Awww does that mean you would be coming by the university anymore?” Minhyun whines playfully, causing Kihyun to chuckle.

“I mean, can I come by in the future?” 

“Of course! You are always welcome, whenever you want to just drop me a text and we can meet up!” Minhyun replies excitedly.

“Hahahaha, sure thing then. I’ll pop by whenever I get sick of staring at my home walls,” Kihyun accepts the offer happily.

“Yeahoo. Oooof here comes another hoard of students, text me if you need anything, talk to you soon!” Minhyun says a quick goodbye, and Kihyun chuckles at the mental image of the tall, handsome professor Hwang Minhyun being ambushed by his loyal fans. 

He strokes his phone fondly chuckling under his breath, a warmth comes over Kihyun as he reflects on the past week. He had truly grown so much closer to Minhyun, and the younger mother seemed so much more human and like him now. At this moment he truly felt it, he found a friend in this big city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey There,
> 
> I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I appreciate all the reading and kudos. Are Minhyuk and Jonghyun a thing? Maybe? Who knows? Should I? HAHAHAHHAHAH. I don't actually know of any Korean self-help authors so I thought this was a good chance to bringing some of the other members from MX and NU'EST. Really sorry for leaving them out but this is a Showki-Baekmin focused story.
> 
> Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, feedback, and requests!


	7. The Men Who Produce and Perform

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyunwoo runs into Dongho at his workplace. The fathers bond over coffee and how whipped they are for their husbands.

“Hyunwoo-hyung?” 

Hyunwoo whips his head around when he hears his name being called by a familiar voice. His gaze lands upon a muscular man, a little short than him, hair hidden under a backwards cap in a large band t-shirt, black jeans, and matching back Converse. The man’s eyes crease into tight moons upon realizing that he had correctly identified the tan dance instructor.

“Oh Dongho-ya, hey, what are you doing here?” Hyunwoo walks over to the door of the dance studio where Dongho stood while dabbing beads of sweat off his forehead. The class he was teaching was having a 5-minute break after going through the combination a number of times. 

“Hahaha I work here,” Dongho replies cheerfully, adjusting his body to lean lighting on the door frame.

Hyunwoo cocked his head slightly in confusion. “I thought producers were usually freelance or worked in producing agencies, isn’t this an idol company?” He peers around the dance practice room with its late brown panels to confirm that he was indeed where he thought he was.

“Hahahaha it is an idol company, but I’m in their in-house producing team. I also help out with the vocal lessons when they need me to sometimes. What brings you here by the way hyung?” Dongho explains.

“We got hired to do a class here. I’m still pretty new so I’m more of an assistant. What a coincidence I had no idea that you worked for this agency,” Hyunwoo gestures to the other instructors and students as he speaks. Indeed, on this fateful day, Hyunwoo had joined a team of other instructors to conduct a dance class with some idol trainees. 

Do not be fooled by Hyunwoo’s humility, him being included in the team to conduct this class is a BIG DEAL. It’s been around six months since the tall dancer had joined the academy, but he has quickly risen the unofficial ranks among the instructors and choreographers. Despite being relatively new to the industry, and being larger in size than the average dancer, Hyunwoo has what can only be described as a magical touch with dance. One would think with his height and build he would be clunky on the dance floor, but he was the exact opposite. Gliding across the floor like an ice dancer on skates his footwork was impeccably smooth. His isolations were precise, and he had a unique groove giving all of his dance moves character and swag. Most importantly, even with the most intense choreography, he was able to emote effortlessly making everything look deceptively easy. The head choreographers were stunned and entranced by Hyunwoo’s dance moves when he had his final audition, they didn’t even need to discuss before offering him a job on the spot. At this academy, it typically took a couple of months before new choreographers were allowed to lead classes, and teach their own choreography, just so the rookie would have time to acquaint with the style and vibe of the academy’s dancers. To be dispatched to even assist in classes, dancers/choreographers usually needed to have had been with the academy for at least a year. Hyunwoo started teaching his own classes a month in, and here he was six months in, on his fifth assignment as an assistant teacher outside of the academy. Hyunwoo had no idea that his career trajectory was in any way out of the ordinary, but when he wasn’t looking his colleagues would always either look at him in awe or admiration: they were housing a dance genius. 

/back to the present moment/

“Cool cool, do you have any plans after this?” Dongho asks while nodding knowingly after listening to Hyunwoo’s explanation.

“Ermmm no, I don’t think we are going to go back to the academy after this. I’ll probably just find a café to cool off and wait for a good time to head over to pick up Changkyun,” it was Hyunwoo’s turn to pick up the toddler today.

“I see, I’m picking up Minki today too. Rather than a café do you wanna come hang out in my studio? I can get us coffee hahahah, my treat,” Dongho offers with a gummy smile.

“Oh that is very kind of you but I wouldn’t want to impose,” Hyunwoo raises his hands slightly to refuse the offer but Dongho waves his hands to wave that movement away.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I insist. Besides we heading the same way after anyway.”

Hyunwoo wanted to raise another protest but he is interrupted by a yell, “Hyunwoo! We are starting in 2 minutes.”

Hyunwoo looks over at the head choreographer and then back at Dongho words stuck in his throat.

Dongho chuckles at the older's confusion, “Cool, my studio is on the fourth floor on the right, my name is hanging by my door so just come up and knock when you are done. Americano works for you?”

Hyunwoo just nods slightly dumbfounded by everything happening at the same time. The head instructor turns up the volume of the music indicating that the room was going to run through the sequence again, and Dongho proceeds to take his leave. He gives the tall dancer a quick wave and tries to yell over the music “See ya!”

Hyunwoo cards his hand through his sweaty locks and smiles to himself at the laid back carefree demeanor of the younger producer. Oh well, there wasn’t a real reason to say no, and he would get a chance to know the young man a little more too. With that thought Hyunwoo jogs lightly to the front of the studio, ready to lead the trainees through the complicated dance sequence again. 

After about three hours the trainees were sprawled out on the ground in exhaustion, while the instructors began packing up their things getting ready to go. Spotting the dancers starting to take their leave the trainees got up as quickly as they could despite their aching muscles, bowing deep, foreheads almost reaching their knees they bid their instructors farewell, “Thank you so much for today!”

“Mmmm y’all did well today. Keep practicing the basics and we’ll go through another sequence next time,” the head choreographer waves at the polite boys promising to return with even harder choreography in the future.

“Thank you!” the boys yell out again. The other dancers smile fondly at the young trainees, recalling their innocent days as rookie dancers, and also bid their farewell.

Once outside the head choreographer gathers the dancers for a quick debrief, “Good work today guys, I’ll see y’all tomorrow back at the academy. Rest up and remember to ice your muscles you don’t want them to be sore tomorrow.”

“Yes hyung!” the dancers reply similar to how the trainees did earlier.

Once the head choreographer takes his leave the remaining dancers hang back to discuss what they want to do since they got off work early.

“How about an arcade, I haven’t been to one in ages,” a blond dancer named Jinyoung suggest.

“Oooo that sounds good, but let’s go get some coffee first, man that intense,” another shorter man named Jinhwan chimes in.

“Y’all can go ahead, I’m going to meet up with my friend,” Hyunwoo informs while looking at his co-workers apologetically. A part of him felt bad about ditching the colleague hang out but he already promised Dongho that he would go over. 

“Oh that cute guy with the cap earlier?” Jinyoung asks.

“Yea, and his happily married with a child so don’t get any funny ideas Jinyoung,” Hyunwoo teases watching the glimmer in the other dancer’s eyes fade as a faint pink begins to rise in his cheeks.

“Whatever Hyunwoo-hyung, oh well we’ll catch you at the academy tomorrow then, see you,” Jinyoung begins walking off with the other dancers who wave goodbye at Hyunwoo.

Now that he was properly off work, Hyunwoo locates the elevator and heads up to the fourth floor as Dongho had instructed. It took him a minute to navigate through the maze of corridors which housed various practice rooms and studios but eventually, he arrived at the fateful room. The name tag indicated it’s owner’s name “Baekho” along with a large white tiger sticker messily placed to cover about half of the last character of the producer’s name. Probably the handy work of Minki, Hyunwoo thought as he knocked lightly on the door.

No response.

Hyunwoo tries again knocking a little harder this time. Still no response.

He tried a third time, this time practically bruising his knuckles as he knocked harshly on the glass door. When Hyunwoo was initially met with no response again, he whipped out his phone ready to text the young producer. However, just as he located Dongho’s number the door flung open. 

“OH HYUNWOO HYUNG! SORRY I DIDN’T HEAR YOU!” Dongho yells out with his headphones still over his ears as he greeted the dancer. Clearly, those headphones were blasting music leading to Dongho finding the need to "yell over it". 

Hyunwoo waves sheepishly at Dongho and points at his ear as if he was wearing headphones of his own. Realizing that Hyunwoo was hinting at him to do something, Dongho hurriedly rips off his headphones and giggles nervously, “Whoops, I must have been really loud huh? Anyway, come in come in, I just got the coffee so and snacks so they should still taste pretty good.”

Dongho opens the door further to let Hyunwoo into the studio. As he plopped down on a small leather couch Hyunwoo took in all the sights of the studio. It was not big, probably barely the size of his college dorm room and it was honestly rather messy. Boxes of old takeout stacked up in an overflowing trashcan. Albums were stacked on a tiny shelf and on the floor. There were sweaters and coats strewn everywhere, probably backups Dongho saved for late nights at the studio, there were even a couple of spare shoes Hyunwoo spots under the desk. Most dramatically the room was a web of wires, connected to two large monitors, an electric keyboard, a computer keyboard, a synthesizer, and a bunch of other electronic instruments Hyunwoo did not recognize. A large mike stood next to a desk chair, raised to about Dongho’s head height. Despite the overall mess of the room, a wall caught Hyunwoo’s eye. It was the wall the couch was seated up against, and it was arguably the neatest part of the room. (Similar to Minhyun’s university office) there were frames pictures hung up making a collage of Dongho’s family and friends. A couple of large pieces of Dongho and Minhyun grabbed Hyunwoo’s attention. In one of them, a clear blue sky and the peek of an ocean formed the background, with Dongho and Minhyun perched gingerly on a large rock. Minhyun had leaned carefully into Dongho, and Dongho dug his head lightly into Minhyun’s shoulder, both men clutching onto Minhyun’s tummy. Another one seemed to have been from their wedding day. It was fairytale-esque, Minhyun was in a white suit, while Dongho wore a matching black one. The couple stood far facing a wall of vines, holding hands, and the picture captures a moment of pure bliss between the pair. 

Hyunwoo could stare at these pictures all day swooning at how adorable the couple was but he was quickly brought back down to earth. 

“Really sorry about the mess, I’m not the neatest,” Dongho apologizes sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Hahahaha don’t worry, my locker in the academy is an absolute pig sty too. These photos are really nice,” Hyunwoo chuckles while gesturing at frames behind him.

“Hahahaha that is the work of Hwang Minhyun. When I first got the studio, he came over with Minki to help me move my furniture and decorate. I don’t care much for decorations, but we had extra photos from our Jeju home which we couldn’t fit in our apartment. Minhyun took a couple for his office, and I decided to hang some up too. Of course, I’m terrible with visual aesthetics, so he ended up mapping everything out and hanging it up for me. I’m grateful though every time I’m tired, I just look over and I get reminded of why I do what I do,” Dongho explains while sipping on his iced Americano.

“That’s sweet, haha I have a little polaroid of Kihyun in my locker from when we were dating. He hates that picture though cause it was one I took of him when he was sleeping.”

“Those are the best,” Dongho nods in agreement. “I have a couple of less glamorous photos of Minhyun too but I keep the pretty ones up to make my co-workers jealous haha.”

“I’m sure they are hahaha,” Hyunwoo chuckles while sipping on his own drinking enjoying this mindless casual conversation, he was having with Dongho about their husbands. Safe to say, both men are pretty whipped for their lovers. “So are you working on any new music right now?”

“Mmmm I’ve created a couple of beats and concepts I want to work on, but nothing is really finished right now. I’m actually trying to make a good dance track, so I was wondering if you could listen to a couple ideas I have and let me know what you think,” Dongho starts opening files and moving folders around on the monitor.

“Sure, lemme hear it,” Hyunwoo agrees as he eases into the couch and Dongho turns on a couple of tracks. Hyunwoo bobs his head to the beat, they were low and strong, accompanied by interesting electronic melody lines which helped distinguish one track to another. Hyunwoo was really feeling the music, tapping along, and at some point, he got up and started freestyling in the small studio. Dongho cheers him on, hoot and hollering is if they were in an underground dance club and not a shoebox-sized studio. 

“WOOOHOOOO! HYUNWOO HYUNWOO HYUNWOO!” Dongho playfully chants when Hyunwoo strikes his final pose at the end of the last track. 

Hyunwoo bows dramatically and laughs at the teenage-like antics he and Dongho were engaging in. “HAHAHAHHA, thank you thank you. These are really great Dongho, I can already visualize the choreography I would make for it.”

Dongho’s eyes light up at this compliment, “Really?!”

Hyunwoo nods reassuringly, “Mmmhmmmm definitely. You’re really good at this, where do you get your inspiration from? I can’t imagine ever writing a song, I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“Hahahaha, I try to draw inspiration from everything around me. I like to use my phone to record sound bites in my daily life which I find interesting and want to include in my songs. Let me show you a couple,” Dongho excitedly navigates to a large folder that housed hundreds and hundreds of short sound clips, each meticulously categorized by date, and a brief description of what it is. It would seem that thought Dongho wasn’t great at keeping his physical space neat, his digital one was impeccably organized. 

Dongho opens up a file and it plays the sounds of waves crashing. He points to the picture Hyunwoo was previously looking at of Minhyun and himself on large rocks and says, “I recorded this when we were on those rocks for our maternity shoot. I mean it was a maternity shoot and also a wedding shoot since we got pregnant before we got married, but same difference.”

Hyunwoo nods, closing his eyes imagining himself on a beach with Kihyun by his side and Changkyun tucked between them. With the context of the picture, the simple sounds of waves crashing sounded so romantic.

Dongho proceeds to another file. As it starts playing Hyunwoo picks up soft sniffles and he strains his ear to make out the words being spoken. “… *sniff* and I promise to keep nagging you to pick up your dirty socks, while *sniff* doing the laundry until you will start dreaming about it when you sleep *background laughter*. I will always be with you *sniff*…”

Dongho pauses the clip and chuckles to himself, “I secretly recorded our vows, actually I basically recorded the whole wedding, but I cut Minhyun’s vows out. Hopefully, when we reach our 20th anniversary or something I can whip this out and surprise him.”

Hyunwoo smiles at that thought, recalling his wedding day with Kihyun. It was a simple, standard affair. A booked wedding hall, they wore matching navy suits because black and white were way too boring for his wannabe-edgy then-fiance-now-husband. He remembers Kihyun’s small hands clutching his, trying to stop his nervous trembling as he read his vows to the older in front all their friends and family. 

“Oh here’s a good one,” Dongho opens up another file with a cheeky smile. 

The clip plays, “KANG DONGHO! I told you to get organic milk powder from the grocery store, not this synthetic nonsense. (Dongho’s voice cuts in) This was on sale, that organic one costs a bomb babe. (Back to Minhyun) Of course, it costs a bomb it is ORGANIC, we can’t be feeding our baby stuff made in labs, it isn’t good for them. (Dongho) I’m sure it’s fine, I drank that as a kid and I turned out fine. If you really want organic milk why don’t you pump some from your breast or something, look Minki’s already suckling…”

“HAHAHHAHAHAH, oh it was such a stupid fight, and he still made me go out to return the milk powder and get the organic one,” Dongho laughs wiping a tear away as he remembers his early parenting fumbles with Minhyun.

“HAHAHAHHAH Kihyun and I had the exact same fight, we even fought over cloth and disposable diapers, it was ridiculous. HAHHAHAHA,” Hyunwoo laughs along relating fully with Dongho’s struggles. “Ooooo hahahaha, but it looks like a lot of your inspiration is related to Minhyun, I guess it makes sense. Kihyun inspires my choreography too. I tried to do a whole couple dance with him for our wedding but he wasn’t having it.”

Dongho nods as he finishes off his drink, “Hahahaha yea, Minhyun is my muse, and now Minki is my little muse. My dream is to produce a whole album with these sound bites from our lives, I might be a songwriter, but I hope the company will let me release it as my own album. It doesn’t have to sell well; I just want it to happen.”

Hyunwoo pats Dongho’s shoulder reassuringly, “I trust that it will come true soon. Once that album drops I’ll buy 10 and I’ll force Kihyun to buy 20. We’ll be your number one fans hahaha.”

“Thanks hyung, ooooof how time flies when you are surrounded by music. We better start heading off to pick up Changkyun and Minki,” Dongho looks over at his phone and begins packing up. Hyunwoo does the same and soon both men were off.

On the way to their cars, the fathers chat animatedly about their jobs, their students, their husbands, their lives. It was a short walk but both men felt significantly closer and more comfortable with each other by the time they reached their cars. One following after the other they arrive at the kindergarten at the same time and pick up their bubbly two-year-olds. The toddlers share multiple kisses goodbye while their father share a quick side hug goodbye.

When Dongho arrives home his face is plastered with a bright smile. 

“What’s up with you, big guy?” Minhyun asks when he greets his husband and child at the door. 

Dongho pulls him in for a quick “welcome home kiss” and he chuckles, “Ran into Hyunwoo-hyung today and had the best time.”

“Oh really? Tell me about it, by the way, I think I added too much salt to the stew please save it,” Minhyun carries Minki over to undress him in the nursery, leaving Dongho with his mild disaster in the kitchen.

[In the Son-Yoo Home]

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Kihyun remarks as he notices the constant smile on Hyunwoo’s face since he returned home. 

Hyunwoo goes over to hug Kihyun by the waist. “What’s up?” Kihyun asks slightly confused but enjoying the affection. 

“I met Dongho today when we were out teaching a class, and honestly that guy is really cool.”

“Really now, hahahaha, what did he do?”

“Hangs pictures of his husband on the wall to make his colleagues jealous, records his wedding vows, plans on writing a whole album for his husband and child. I’m so glad we made these friends Ki,” Hyunwoo sighs as he sways his husband’s body in his around the kitchen.

“kekekekeke, me too big bear, me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi There!
> 
> I hope this has been fun to read so far for you guys. I always feel so much joy when I enter this little world of domesticity for ShowKi and Baekmin. Do feel free to leave comments, suggestions, feedback and requests. If y'all are interested in seeing how a particular scenario would play out between these couples (at least in my mind) do drop it in the comment section and I will make it happen! (or at least I will try).

**Author's Note:**

> HI THERE! 
> 
> This is my first work on AO3, so please provide any and all feedback, I really appreciate it! Also, open to requests cause I love writing fanfictions (hahaha). I know this is a really random grouping of groups considering that Monsta X and NU'EST aren't exactly known to be close at all (though both groups are whipped for Seventeen), but I just have a really strong attachment to my main ships from both groups and I was driven to write a piece with both of them in it. 
> 
> If you are a Monbebe or a L.O.V.E reading this, do give the other group a chance and check out their work and their music. These groups are both so hardworking and humble and I do not regret stanning!
> 
> Thank you!!


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